Not Quite Like You
by Kiyuuni
Summary: Rin is a contractor, a human being with no soul, and she has the ability to wield lightning but at a cost. The Syndicate sends her and her comrades on an assignment to take down a contractor gone rogue. This would have been any normal assignment for Rin, but when they find out their target isn't who they think to be she and her team seek help from an unlikely group of demons.
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker Than Black or any of it's characters! I only own my OCs**

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It was a quiet night in the bustling city of Tokyo. People littered the streets as the nightlife filled the air with the musical sounds of socializing, but among the joyous sounds of the city were the cries of one not so pleasant. "Please, just please! I had no choice. You have to understand. I would have died!"

"Orders from the Syndicate are definite. As such, I am to carry out your sentence immediately." The voice gave away the identity of a young woman. The masked figure cloaked in black reached into her coat pocket to reveal a dagger.

"I won't tell the Syndicate. I promise! It'll be our secret. Just let me live." The young man backed further away into the dark alley until he came to a dead end. He looked behind to see that a tall fence was blocking his path. The cloaked figure continued to make her way towards him, dagger in hand. _I can take her_ , he thought. _We're about the same size. If she gets closer I can_ \- but before another thought could cross his mind she had already closed the distance between the two. With the dagger she swung her arm across her body aiming for his neck. Predicting her move, the young man ducked and producing his own weapon, aimed for her abdomen. She sidestepped to avoid the blow and used her left hand to knock the dagger away from him. Losing his balance the young man fell to his knees.

It began to rain as she hovered over him waiting to see if he would attempt at another escape. He looked up at her with eyes empty and completely void of emotion. "So this is it." A puddle of water was already starting to form underneath him. She slipped her foot into the puddle and not a moment later sparks of electricity were emitting from it. For a few seconds his body started to shake violently reacting to the electrocution before falling face first on the ground.

Pulling out a cell phone, the young woman flipped it open, illuminating the dark alley with its screen. She pressed a few buttons and stuck it back into her pocket. As she started walking away from the scene the young woman took off the glove of her left hand- grabbing the pinky finger she bent it backwards until a significant pop sounded breaking the bone.

* * *

"Well, that was quick", voiced a tall man who seemed to be in his mid to late 20's. He had shaggy grey hair with a five-o-clock shadow to match. He looked down at the woman standing before him. She was sopping wet from the rain, her long dark hair clinging to every inch of her. He noticed the glove of her left hand was off and saw her pinky finger was swelling up. "Better get Mei to fix that before it gets worse", and as if on cue out came an even younger girl who looked to be in her pre-teens. Among the three she stood out the most with her long silver hair that was tied up in a high ponytail along with her dull, gray eyes. Like the other two she wore a stoic face void of any emotion.

"Come here, Rin. I'll heal that for you before you clean up."

"I'm fine. I can wrap it up."

"Please, it's just your finger. It'll only take a paper cut." Reluctantly, Rin walked over to Mei and followed her to the worn couch in the corner of the room. They sat down and Mei carefully rested her hand on Rin's broken finger. A soft white glow emitted from Mei's hand and a warm sensation started to buzz through Rin's- seconds later Mei pulled back. "All done" Rin massaged her now healed pinky as Mei stuck out her hand as if she were expecting something. "Knife"

"You said it was a paper cut."

"Do you see any pieces of paper lying around?" Rin grunted and handed her a small knife from her coat pocket. Mei took the knife and sliced her thumb, deep enough so that a few drops were able to seep through. She handed the knife back to Rin while sucking on her thumb to stop the bleeding.

Yoh walked over with a band aid and wrapped it around her thumb. "I have dinner ready in the other room. Join us once you finish drying up." and with that Yoh and Mei left giving Rin some privacy. The place they were staying at was small, dank, and dark. From the little furniture they had it looked like what use to be a small bar. There were three rooms. The main room had one long counter with a couple of rusted bar stools close to a wall with broken mirrors. Empty and broken bottles lined the shelves and pieces of miscellaneous items scattered throughout. The couch Rin was seated in rested in the corner along with a small coffee table. The kitchen wasn't much either, with it being stocked with only a sink, some utensils and a broken fridge. At least the bathroom had a working toilet. It didn't matter though. The living conditions were only temporary at least until Rin finished with her assignment.

She started to undress and slowly laid her clothes on the coffee table. She dug through a small nap sack and pulled out her only other outfit- her training clothes of which consisted of a pair of tight black running Capri and a long sleeved black turtle neck. Normally, she would use them for her delivery assignments, but they were her only choice if she didn't want to walk around stark naked, which isn't a problem for her if not for her companions; she slept nude anyways. Seeing as how the trio migrated often according to her assignments, they lived the lives of minimalists- barely any personal belongings besides a change of clothes, or a first aid kit for Mei.

Just as Rin pulled on her shirt a ring was heard coming from her phone. She flipped it open and read "Syndicate" on the screen. Assuming her next assignment Rin immediately opened the message:

"REPORT TO HQ 0700", that's in eight hours. Good, time to get out of this place. Tucking her phone into her pocket Rin makes her way to the kitchen. Upon entering she sees Mei to her left sitting on the counter talking to Yoh while eating. They both stopped to look at her. "I'm to report to HQ tomorrow morning at 6. I assume for another assignment. We'll be able to leave here as soon as I return."

"Rin," Yoh said as he stepped forward a little. "Mei and I were just talking about that."

"What of it?" Rin asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"I received an assignment myself not too long ago. I'll be leaving in a couple hours. You and Mei will have to leave without me. I'll catch up with you two afterwards." Yoh said as he went to grab a bowl of food and set it down on the counter next to Rin. "I don't know how long this one will take so don't wait up if you end up moving again before I return."

"Is this another internal assignment?" asked Mei. She had already finished her meal and was walking to Yoh, grabbing his sleeve.

"I assume so."

"What is it this time?" Rin picked up her bowl and began to stuff her face not bothering to make eye contact.

"It has something to do with the ongoing trouble maker that's been headlining within the Syndicate lately." Yoh looked down and scratched the back of his head faking a confused smile. Rin gave a twitch of her eyebrow upon seeing so. That was the thing with Yoh. Although a contractor, incapable of any emotions, Yoh still liked to throw faces as if he were any normal human being, but like Yoh she was also capable of faking emotions though she only rarely did it if an assignment required it.

"You better get some rest if you're leaving early." Mei went to place her empty bowl on the counter and then walked back to the main room with Rin following suit. Mei went to the couch and to lie down. "I get the couch tonight."

"As you do every night" Rin lifted Mei's legs and sat down, letting her legs rest on her lap.

"I think I'll start to head out now. I've got a couple places to visit before I head to HQ." Rin looked up at Yoh as he was putting on his coat. "Like I said, don't wait up." and walked out the door. Rin turned her head to Mei and the two shared a look.

"You'll be here by yourself for a few hours. Remember, don't o-"

"Don't open the door for any one, and don't leave without notifying you, got it. As I do every time. Good night, Rin." and in a matter of seconds the both of them fell into a deep sleep.

Rin woke up to the buzzing coming from her phone, its lighting illuminating the darkness. She looked over to Mei to make sure it didn't wake her up as well- she was still fast asleep, her steady breathing filling the silence. Without trying to move too much, Rin reached over to the coffee table and grabbed the device. She flipped it open and saw that it was only 4:42 in the morning. Going through her phone commands she opened up a message from the Syndicate.

"REPORT TO HQ IMMEDIATELY." was all it read. Rin got up and started to dress though her clothes were still slightly damp, but that didn't matter. Whatever this was concerning must have been important for them to disregard their previous request.

And within a matter of minutes she was out the door.

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 **Okay, everyone here it is! Sorry for the horrible grammar/punctuation! I haven't found a beta for this fic yet. I'm hoping once I do that I'll be able to go back and fix it up. For now you'll just have to deal with it. If it starts to get really bad in the punctuation department please let me know! I am a better reader than writer but sometimes when I read what I write it's very easy for me to overlook a lot of things.**

 **As the description mentions this is a Hiei/OC fic but I plan for it to be a slow burn. I want to try my very best to keep everyone in character and also, I am going to type my butt off in hopes of (somewhat) successfully creating and developing my OC.**

 **Some of you may have noticed but in this fic I have slightly combined the world of "Darker than Black" into the Yu Yu universe. Though I don't plan for any of the characters from Darker than Black for this fic, I did incorporate the concept of contractors and the Syndicate (with a bit of changes). There are some similarities between Rin and Hei (her element of lightning, the mask) but that is it. So hopefully she is still considered an OC...?**

 **I have the next five or six chapters already typed up. The reason I waited so long to post this is because the actual Yu Yu characters don't show up until the fifth chapter and because majority of this was written while I was at work. After all, this is a Yu Yu fanfic and I didn't want you guys to think other wise :D**

 **Thanks so much for reading! I'd like to think I take criticism pretty well so if you have any advice or comments regarding writing techniques, punctuation, etc etc, then please comment away!**

 **See you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, everyone! I decided to go ahead and post chapter since I've been making good progress so far.**

 **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker then Black, or any of their characters! I only own my OCs.**

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It was around 5:30 in the morning and Yoh sat in his chair among two others in a conference room. It's been almost two hours since he was given his next assignment, but before he could leave they asked him to stay until further instructions and led him to where he is now. "Any clue as to why we're all here?" he asked no one specific.

"Only that this is for an assignment." The ginger haired boy spoke as he adjusted his glasses. "Nothing specific" Yoh looked to the other side of him. He recognized the boy sitting a few chairs away from the ginger. He sat staring at the wall behind Yoh. He recognized him as the contractor Rin frequently worked with on assignments. Just as he was about to call for him, an individual opened the door and stepped into the room. One of the council men, known as Yamori, stood before them at the end of the table.

"There are only three of you?" No one spoke as the council man eyed the three men sitting before him. "Well then we'll just have to star-" and right then the door opened revealing Rin.

She paused for a second while taking in her surroundings. What exactly was she called in for? And why was Yoh here as well? She made her way to the other side of the table and sat down next to Yoh. "Alright, now that everyone is here we can get started." Yamori unfolded the laptop he brought in with him and began clicking away. Images of a man appeared behind him on the projector. "All of you were called in today for an assignment, but not just any normal one as you can tell. Because of how delicate the situation is I was given responsibility of overseeing this." Yamori gestured to the screen behind him. Rin looked up to the face that illuminated the room. He looked to be a young man around his early to mid-20's. Messy black hair accompanied his average looking face. "This is your next assignment. As you may know by now there has been word about a contractor with the capability of using his abilities without paying his dues. We have ignored him for a while, but it wasn't until recently that he started to show up on our radar again."

 _So this is the one behind those rumors. And apparently they aren't rumors._ Yamori clicked the button on his wireless remote. The slide changed to a sky bird's view of the man walking among a crowd of people in what looked like a park.

"He goes by the name Shizen and he was last seen here at Ueno Park sometime in May." _Which was three months ago,_ Rin thought. He clicked the button again, this time showing Shizen's mug shot. "He has been causing disturbances and has so far gotten the attention of the police- too many times for us to just ignore him. And those rumors spreading around about his 'abilities' has been causing discomfort within the Syndicate. We need to take him in before he draws the attention of Reikai. Your job is to work together to apprehend him, alive. His contract abilities include manipulating elements. He has also been known to use evasive tactics to remain off our grid, which is why I have had the pleasure of choosing you four specifically for this assignment. Each of you is highly skilled in your fields of expertise. Find out if he is working alone or with a group, and if the others are contractors you have permission to exterminate them. We cannot risk revealing our identities to anyone." Yamori clicked the button one last time revealing another profile shot, but this one was slightly different from the mug shot. He had the slightest curve of a smile. "Records show he was enrolled in Tokyo University for a semester. You can start there."

The screen went blank and Yamori shut off his the laptop. "You are to report any and all findings directly to me and you are not allowed to disclose any information to anyone including your colleagues. This assignment has been labeled top priority by the Syndicate. As such it vital you bring him in as soon as possible before Reikai makes it messy. Am I clear?" There was silence in the room as they nod their heads. "Good. You are dismissed." Yamori picked up his things and left the room.

The room was quiet and stayed that way for some time before Yoh decided to break the silence. "Jin, I trust we could leave the university to you?" he asked the ginger across from him. The boy lifted his glasses in response.

"Yes, I'll start with their data base. He's only been there for a semester so I can't promise much, but I'll do what I can."

"And Shin" the young boy a couple chairs down from Jin looked up with his obsidian eyes, first at Rin then to Yoh. "Will you start with Ueno Park? Scout the surrounding area. I know it's been three months since that photo, but see if you can get any clues on the before or after." Shin combed a hand through his dark hair.

"Sure" was all he said without looking at Yoh.

"Good. I'll contact you both in a few days about where we can meet and share what we've found. Rin and I have a couple informants to go to so we'll start there." Rin took a quick glance at Yoh. Informants? What informants? She didn't have any that would be helpful in this case unless Yoh had someone else in mind that she didn't know about.

Everyone got up and started to leave. As Rin made for the door Yoh grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Meet me back at the bar. I have a few more things to take care of here. We'll grab Mei and then leave for Taito. I have someone we need to meet before he leaves." Rin gave a slight nod and left.

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Back at the bar Mei sat atop the counter waiting patiently for either Rin or Yoh to return. It had been about an hour since she woke up only to find that the space on the couch next to her was empty. She leaned back and rested her hands on the dusty counter to support her upper body. She was ready to leave this place. The living conditions here weren't convenient and sleeping on the old couch made her back hurt. They had only been here four days, but to Mei it felt like four weeks.

Rin's assignments took them almost all over Japan, but almost every time they would wind up in the dirtiest, darkest, smelliest abandoned holes in the neighborhood. They had to keep a low profile so it was always best. Sometimes they would get lucky. If Rin was on a long-term assignment she would rent out a little apartment.

Yoh's situation is a little different. Because of his certain ability to have premonitions of the near future, most of his missions were either at HQ or accompanying another contractor. Lately, his tasks involved helping out Rin with some of her retrieval assignments, which is why he traveled with them so often.

And that leaves Mei. With her ability to heal it would make much more sense for her to be stationed at HQ where she would have the facilities and equipment to treat her fellow contractors. Except, Rin was able to point out that it would be beneficial to have Mei accompany her instead. Rin, being one of the Syndicate's top "employees", needed to be in tip top shape for her to carry out the extreme assignments she is usually given. And because her price for using her abilities involved breaking her bones it would be much more convenient to have Mei around rather than making trips back to HQ all the time. Plus, having a healer is way faster than going to the hospital and waiting for bones to mend. There were times every now and then when the Syndicate would have her come back because someone important needed immediate healing in life or death situations, but Mei never stayed long enough because she preferred Rin as her main patient.

The seconds ticked away on her watch. Any minute now Rin or Yoh will show up and then they will be off to more comfortable living arrangements. She hoped. Just as Mei hopped down from the counter the door opened revealing none other than her black clad dressed partner, Rin. "About time. I was starting to wonder if you had forgotten me." Rin stepped in and closed the door behind her.

"Have you packed your things? We're leaving once Yoh gets back which shouldn't be too long now."

"All done" Mei turned around to show her back pack resting on her shoulders. It looked rather empty, but the trio never carried much anyway. "Where are we heading to this time?"

"We're staying in Tokyo, but we'll be moving slightly closer to the university, over in Taito." Rin went over to the coffee table and began packing her things into her small knap sack. "This is a long-term assignment so prepare yourself for a long stay." If Mei was capable of emotions she would be ecstatic. Finally, a place with proper running water, a kitchen with working appliances, and most importantly, beds! Her back will know no more pain…. At least for the next few weeks, but it was better than nothing.

Rin finished with the rest of her packing and threw her knapsack over her shoulder. "Let's get some breakfast before Yoh gets back. It's a nonstop trip to Taito."

"Okay, but I get to choose the place" and with that the two made their way out the door.

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 **And that, my friends, is chapter 2!**

 **Any complaints? Comments? Advice? Leave a review! Or not :D**

 **Thanks for reading! See you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker then BLACK, or any of their characters. I only own my OCs.

Onward! 

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Yoh had remained at HQ back in his room as he went shuffling through piles of papers. _Where is that sheet? I'm sure I left it here somewhere._ His entire room was filled with boxes upon boxes of rope, string, and almost anything that he was able to tie knots into because well, that was his price for using his abilities.

Like him, every contractor employee had a designated room at HQ. Whenever a contractor wasn't on an assignment Hq served as their home. The Syndicate also has a requirement that every six months a contractor must stay at HQ for one month. This is so the Syndicate can keep tabs on their workers and also to make sure the contractors stay in peak condition. Majority of the one month's stay involved physical training and medical checkups.

Yoh began to get frustrated. He had been searching for almost an hour now and still no luck. He decided to give up on the pile he was working on and started flipping through a pile of old assignment reports until he came across a manila folder. Throwing everything else to the side, he picked it up and examined the contents. Inside were papers from one of his old assignments from a couple years ago.

He remembered it being the one from when he was in charge of a group that was ordered to track down a serial killer, who happen to be a contractor. The Syndicate was having trouble tracking him down so they used Yoh to predict his movements. He remembered that it was that mission that gave him the promotion he needed to be able to live and maintain a lifestyle outside HQ. It was also the mission when he first encountered de-. Recognition smacked itself onto his face. Yoh closed the folder and gathered his things. It wasn't what he was looking for, but it was damn better than what he had originally planned. Before stepping out he turned around and grabbed a few pieces of thin rope from a box and shoved them into his bag.

* * *

Rin and Mei were making their way back to the bar. They had a nice quick meal of croissants and some tea. Fearing they would return after Yoh the two grabbed their meals to go. They were walking along the sidewalk when a commotion was heard coming from the park across the street. They stopped to to see what was going on. Rin tugged on her collar- the air all of a sudden had gotten stiff. It irked her in a curious manner. A minute later an ambulance drove past and parked at the park entrance. The two watched as a medical team came out with a stretcher. One of them lifted a young boy onto the stretcher. Rin could see blood stains trailing down his forehead. "Rin, what happen?" Rin looked away and started to walk again.

"It doesn't matter. It's not of our concern anyway." Mei quickened her pace to catch up. As they began their trek back to the bar Rin stole one last quick glace over her shoulder. A whiff of something in the air caught her attention, it was foul. Whatever happened here, it wasn't any normal accident. She made a mental note to keep an eye out while they were still in the area.

* * *

You sat lounging on the couch waiting for Mei and Rin to get back. He had arrived a few minutes ago ready to leave but came to an empty room. The whole time on the way back Yoh couldn't help but think about the manila folder in his backpack. He had gone from plan A to plan B real fast. It was a big risk deciding to do this, but if this worked out then they would have the assignment done in no time. Yoh didn't like unfinished business. The sooner it got done the better.

He heard footsteps outside the door. The knob turned and walked in Rin and Mei. "I figured you would be here before us" said Rin as she held the door open for Mei. She walked in and peeked around from Behind Rin.

"Good. Now that Yoh is here can we leave? My mind needs a nap and my back needs a bed."

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that? I've been sleeping on the counter the whole time we were here." Yoh got up and slung his pack on his shoulder. "Let's go before the train leaves. Jin and Shin have already left." The trio walked out one by one and left the bar, abandoned, once again.

* * *

The trio sat on the bus headed for Taito, each in their own respective seats. Rin stared out the window into the scenery as they passed by. She figured Yoh would want to start right away with the assignment so first priority would be to get a place and make sure Mei was comfortable before they left her for the day. Rin's mind began to wonder off as she thought about the incident her and Mei walked by earlier. She wondered what had happened to the boy. Were his injuries fatal? Was it an attack? Rin thought back a little harder. She didn't remember seeing a parent or any type of guardian with him, just a small crowd of people, as he was lifted into the ambulance. Wait, why was she dwelling on this? What did it matter to her? That boy had absolutely no relation to her. Rin brushed her thoughts aside as she sat a little more comfortably into her seat and closed her eyes for the rest of the ride.

Rin woke up to the tapping on her shoulder. She cracked open an eye and turned her head slightly to Mei sitting behind her. "We're here", she said as she got up.

The two waited for Rin to get off the bus and followed her down the street. "So, where's this new place we're staying at?" Yoh asked as he tugged on Mei's arm to move her out of the way of some passerby.

"It's in a... quiet part of town. It's also a regular apartment so we'll live a little more comfortable for the next few weeks." Rin stopped in front of another bus stop. "One more bus ride and we'll be there." Mei walked up and stood next to Rin.

"But I thought we were already here." Rin took a side glance at Mei and rested her hand on top of her head.

"It's just a little longer." Minutes later the bus arrived and the three boarded.

It was a quarter past noon when they finally arrived at the location. All it took were 2 bus rides and a 30 minute walk, but they finally made it. They stood in front of a small, 2 floor apartment complex. Next to it stood a tall tree that loomed over the building. Surrounding it was a clean, well-kept lawn large enough for the residents to lounge on or for the children to play. Right on the other side of the lawn was a small traditional Japanese home. "Give me minute while I talk to the landlord." Rin walked over to the house and knocked on the screen door. Seconds later an old lady peered through the crack as she slid the door open. "Murata-san?"

"May I help you?" Rin threw on her friendliest smile and bowed her head.

"My name is Yamasaki Rin. I talked to you on the phone earlier about renting out one of your spaces." She gestured to the two behind her. "I'm here with my family today." The little old lady opened the door wider and stepped out.

"Oh, yes! Please, come with me. I'll show you to your room." The old lady hobbled ahead of her and the two walked towards Yoh and Mei.

"This is my husband, Yoh, and this is his niece, Mei." Rin gestured to the two respectively. The two bowed their greeting and Yoh rested a hand on Mei's shoulder.

"It's very nice to meet you. We apologize for the abrupt arrival." Yoh sent a warm smile her way and nudged Mei at the same time. "Mei..."

"Excuse me for my rude behavior." Mei bowed a second time. "Thank you for housing us. My parents are working overseas and so my uncle and aunt have been taking care of me. If there is anything I can help you with please let me know."

"My, what a well-mannered young lady you have with you. Please, follow me." The three follow Murata-san to the stairs. She led them up to the second floor and down the balcony to the last door. Fishing out a ring of keys she used one of them to open the door. "I'll give you a quick tour." Everyone removed their shoes as they came inside a small genkan. "To your immediate right is the kitchen. It's stocked with a stove, oven and refrigerator." The trio took a quick peek into the kitchen. It was a simple kitchen. The sink on the left had counter tops on both sides. Straight ahead was the stove and to the right was the fridge. Very standard, very clean.

"Back into the hall we have the bedrooms." Two doors lined the hallway across from the kitchen entrance. Murata-san opened the one closest to the genkan." This is the smaller room. Pretty standard. Spacious enough for a bed, a desk, and a dresser. Perfect for the young lady." She shut the door and went down to the next door. "And this is the master bedroom." Murata-san opened the door to reveal an exact replica of the previous room but slightly bigger and with a closet. "This one is just a tad bigger than the first one and it has a closet. Big enough for two." She turned and smiled at the 'couple'. Rin and Yoh returned it. "Right across from the master bedroom is the living space." The group walked into an empty room. On the far side was a sliding door that led to a small private balcony. "You can use the balcony to hang laundry. And last but not least is the bathroom." She took them to a smaller hall next to the master bedroom. "Straight ahead at the end of the hall is a supply closet. On the right at this door here is the bathroom." She opened it to reveal a small bathroom stocked with a sink, toilet, stand up shower, and a small tub.

"Well, this is it. Do you think this space would be big enough for you and your family?"

"Oh, yes. This is more than we could ever ask for. Thank you, Murata-san." Rin bowed her head slightly to show her appreciation and the other two followed suit.

"When do you plan to move in?" Rin and Yoh looked at each other feigning surprise.

"We were hoping today, actually."

"Today? But where are your things? Surely you must have some luggage."

Yoh waved her hands to calm the woman down. "Well, it's a bit of a story. You see, our house caught on fire and we lost everything. We've been staying at a hotel for the past couple of weeks until my wife was able to find a temporary home for us to stay. Our niece here has grown weary with staying at the hotel so we're pretty eager to move in and start again."

The little old lady's hands flew to cover her mouth as she gasped. Tears started to swell in her eyes. "Oh my goodness! Why didn't you say so? I have some extra furnishings in the storage from previous residents. Come with me."

"Oh, but we couldn't possibly-" Murata-san cut him off before he could say another word. She turned to face him with one hand on her hip and the other shaking her finger towards him.

"Oh, don't give me that. Now come. The things are heavy so I'll need all of your help." Murata led them around her tiny home to the back. It was a basic yard really. A small porch, some chairs, and tucked into the corner right beside the house was a shed. She brought them to the doors and opened it with the ring of keys she had out earlier. Dust flew and everyone coughed. It must have been a while since she last went in here. "Watch your step. I've accumulated quite a bit of odd things. Sometimes when people leave they don't bring their belongings with them. I've kept them and had the idea of selling for cheap, but I never got around to it. Now it all just sits here untouched." Most of everything was covered in white sheets. "Feel free to looking through and take whatever you need. I'll go find my husband and have him help you out."

"Oh, that's okay Murata-san. We can handle the heavy lifting." Rin peeked under one of the sheets to find a coffee table. She made a mental note to go back for it while she moved on to the next item.

"Well, if you're sure. I'll go make some tea."

It was midafternoon when the group finally finished with moving what furniture they were able to scavenge from their landlady's shed. They were able get to a few useful things like a low coffee, nightstand, a couch, dining table, four chairs, and other miscellaneous things. Rin had just finished setting the chairs around the table when Yoh pulled her aside. "We gotta get going if we're going to meet our informant" Rin took a quick glance at her watch. It read 5:43. They had been at it for almost four hours. She looked into the living room from the kitchen and saw Mei placing a vase on the coffee table. "She'll be fine. We won't be long." Yoh walked past Rin towards genkan to put on his shoes. "I'll wait outside."

Rin turned around and walked up to Mei who was now sitting at the table admiring the vase. "Mei" She broke her stare and looked up to Rin with her usual empty eyes. "Yoh and I are leaving. Stay here until we come back." Rin was just about to step outside when she heard Mei who was still in the living room.

"Can I go visit Murata-san?"

Rin paused for a second debating if it was safe for Mei to venture outside the apartment. Normally, she wouldn't let her but because it was almost dinner time and the fact that their fridge was empty it would probably be a better idea for her to be next door rather than have her starve or sneak into town to get food. "Sure" was all she said before shutting the door behind her.

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Chapter 3! I'll continue to sporadically update. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker Than Black, or any of their characters. I only own my OCs.

* * *

The sun was just about to set when Yoh and Rin finally arrived at the park. Right next to the entrance stood a rather large water fountain. The park was pretty much empty aside from a few other last minute stragglers. There was a family playing on the other side of the fountain, a man sitting on a nearby bench, a photographer taking photos of the wild life, and a couple of others walking the trail. "Let's rest over there, dear." Rin side glanced in the direction Yoh was pointing to - a bench that was down the trail a little ways. The couple walked over and sat down. They waited in a comfortable silence pretending to enjoy the last few minutes of the sun together.

Rin was staring out into the clearing watching the sun start to dip below the horizon. They had waited for almost half an hour and some time in between that Yoh had slipped his arm around her shoulders in attempt to make their situation look a little more convincing. Another five minutes later she saw the photographer walking over in their direction.

"Excuse me for disturbing your peaceful evening, but I am wondering if I could borrow a few moments of your time?"

Yoh retracted his arm from Rin's shoulders and sat forward. "Sure. What can we help you with?"

"You see, I've been out here all day taking photos for a project and I was wondering if you would allow me to take a photo of you two for my piece."

The couple looked at each other a little taken back. "Well, I don't mind. What about you, dear?"

Rin pretended to be in thought before she looked up at the photographer and smiled. "Sure, why not?"

"Great! Can I have you put your arm around her again?"

"Like this?" Yoh wrapped his arm back around Rin's shoulders again.

"Yes, but pull her a little closer to you... That's it!" The photographer grabbed his camera from the bag and got into position. "Miss, May I have you lean your head a little towards him?" Rin leaned her head slightly towards Yoh. "Hmm..." The photographer pulled the camera down from his face and tapped his chin.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Yoh.

"No, no! Something is just... missing. Ah, I know! Miss, can you lean your head on his should instead?"

Rin feinted a slight blush on her cheeks. "S-sure!" At this point all the space they had between them was completely nonexistent. Rin didn't mind though. The lack of sun had made it a bit chilly and Yoh's body heat was welcome.

"Perfect! Now just hold still and smile!" The two flashed the camera with their well-practiced smiles that almost came second nature to them. "Wonderful! One more. Smile like the two young people in love that you are!"

Rin hesitated. She felt Yoh's body stiff slightly beside her. Smile like they were in love? She didn't know there was a difference. What did an in love smile look like? She was going to look back up at the camera until Yoh shifted his body closer to her, as if they weren't close enough, and leaned his head onto hers. "Smile for the camera, dear" he whispered. _Smile like we're in love. Smile like we're in love. When people are in love usually they feel happiness, content, and warmth. But some others may feel possessive. Jealousy can also be a result of love but the current situation does not require it. Smile like we're in love..._ Rin couldn't decipher the request she was given and decided to just throw all thoughts out of her head. She closed her eyes in concentration and began to relax into Yoh's hold. She could feel his warmth engulf her, protecting her like a shell from the cool breeze as his hair gently ticked her forehead. She listened to the calm and steady breaths of her pretend husband. Matching his breathing Rin opened her eyes. Her lips curled into a soft and gentle smile with just barely a squint of the eyes.

SNAP! The camera's flash went off. "Beautiful!" exclaimed the photographer. Rin blinked once, then twice. She looked up to Yoh and noticed his hold on her slackened a bit.

"It's over?"

"Well, yeah. It doesn't take that long to a take a picture, dear" He exhaled in small laughter. Surely just to add to their act. The photographer sat down beside Yoh and leaned his camera over.

"Would you two like to see?" They both nodded their head in unison. Rin leaned in to get a good look at the small screen. "These are some of the first few I took of you." He pressed buttons going through the multiple photos. "And this is the last one. My personal favorite." He stopped at the photo that had Rin and Yoh leaning on each other. Rin was impressed with the quality of his pictures, but she was very impressed with this last one. If it weren't the fact that she and Yoh were contractors and that they weren't even a real couple she would have been fooled easily. They really did look like a genuine couple.

She looked up at Yoh to see him smiling down at her. "That one is my favorite as well."

"If you don't mind may I show you some others that I took today? I would like a second and third opinion."

"Of course, right dear?" Rin nodded her head and looked back at the screen.

"I was around Todai earlier hoping to get some inspiration." He flipped through numerous scenic photos of the campus. Some were of the court yard, some of students studying, and many of just random photos of animals straying around. Rin watched unamused until he stopped at one particular photo and paused there. It was of a young boy with big brown eyes sporting a slick back hair style. It looked like this photo was taken by the main gate as he was entering the campus. "I knew Todai is a big school but I guess I never really realized how many students attend the university. You wouldn't believe all the kinds of people that go there." He flipped to another one of the same boy. He had a smile plastered to his face and his hand was in the air as if he were waving to someone. "Many people perusing a wide range of careers come here to study. Some of which that are very interesting. Like ones that are out of this world and things no normal person would even think of!" He flipped again to another photo of the boy, this time accompanied by a short, brown haired girl. "Even then a lot of the people on campus aren't just students. Some people just like to go hang around the campus." He turned off his camera and stood up. "The campus really is a beautiful place. The two of you should check it out. I would recommend you visit around lunch time. They have a sandwich stand there that's pretty popular.

Rin was starting to catch on to what was going on. The informant they had been waiting was sitting right next to them. And these pictures were telling her, her next move.

"Well, it's getting late. Sorry to bother you for so long. Here." The photographer handed over a business card and Yoh took it from him. Rin glanced over Yoh's shoulder. It read, INPHOTOGRAPHY. "This is my shop. Feel free to stop by during open hours to grab the photos." Yoh got up and Rin followed suit. The two men shook hands. "Thanks again. Hope to see you soon" and with that he left the park. 

* * *

The sun had completely vanished and the street lights were already on when Yoh and Rin started making their way back to the apartment. The two walked in a comfortable silence as Rin went over the information that was just presented to them. She knew who the boy in the photo was, and she had a feeling of what Yoh was thinking. He was taking a big risk with this idea of his, but she was curious herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Yoh finally decided to speak up. It was as if he could read her mind. "I know it's a big risk, but with the information we were given I had to consider all possibilities. And considering who we're dealing with I'd say it's very possible."

"This is probably the most outlandish thing you've came up of. I'm intrigued."

"So it's safe to assume you know what to do?" Seeing the apartment building come into view Rin quickened her pace.

"It's never safe to assume. We'll see how this goes tomorrow."

The couple arrived at the building only to find that there were no lights coming from their windows. They made their way up the stairs and Yoh fished out his keys to open the door. Darkness and silence welcomed them. Yoh flipped on the lights to the hallway as Rin made her way to living room. There on the couch she found Mei fast asleep. "Let's take some time tomorrow to get some things for the apartment. You don't have to be at the University till noon anyway." Rin looked over her shoulder and watched as Yoh opened the door to Mei's room. "I'll sleep in here tonight."

Rin checked her watch and saw that it was already close to 9. _Were we really at the park for almost two hours?_ Time lately seems to fly by so quickly. She had been so focused on her assignments that the days eventually just started blending in together. She couldn't help but wonder how long this assignment would take. Would time just fly by like it has in the past? What did it matter anyway? It wasn't like she had a life anywhere else. As far as she knew, the Syndicate _is_ her life and it has provided her with everything she ever needed to survive.

As Rin walked into the master bedroom she couldn't shake the feeling that a small part of her was wrong.

* * *

It was a quarter after noon. Rin sat on a bench chewing on her sandwich. She had gone to the university right after their shopping excursion. They bought as much as they could carry; two futons, a couple of blankets, toiletries, and a bag of groceries. That should be enough for Mei to get through the week while she and Yoh were off working on their assignment. Now she could focus of her task without having to worry about Mei- wait. Worry? Since when did Rin start worrying about others? The only wellbeing she should be worrying about is herself. Why was it that lately-?

She didn't get to finish her thought as she heard shouting from the nearby sandwich stand. Rin looked up from her sandwich and saw exactly who she had been waiting for.

"What do you mean you ran out? I come here all the time and you _always_ have it!" The young girl working the sandwich stand took a couple steps back and frantically waved her hands.

"You're right, but you see today has been a little busier than usual. I sold the last one to the young miss over there." She gestured to Rin's direction and the boy turned his head. She glanced away quickly hoping that they didn't catch her staring. The boy glared at her for a few seconds before turning on heel and leaving.

"Fine, but I'll be back tomorrow!" The young girl gave a sigh of relief and continued on with managing the stand.

Rin got up and disposed the rest of her sandwich. She followed the boy across the courtyard while being careful to maintain her distance. She watched him sit down on a bench next to a familiar brunette.

"Hey, what's with the sour face, Yusuke?" the brunette asked as the boy took a seat beside her.

"Is that how you greet someone who comes to keep you company and occasionally buys you lunch?"

"Speaking of lunch, where is it?"

"The freakin' sandwich lady ran out. She sold the last one to some girl. "Hey, Keiko, gimme some change so I can get something to drink." Keiko playfully shoved his arm in an annoyed manner.

"First of all, why don't you use the money you were going to buy the sandwich with and second, what about me? I was expecting you to bring me lunch today which is why I didn't pack anything to eat." Yusuke threw his arms into the air in frustration.

"Well how was I supposed to know that the lady was gonna run out of sandwiches? How does that even happen? You would think that someone who makes a fortune out of those things would think to make extras." Keiko slapped Yusuke on the head making him fall from his spot. "Ow! What was that for?" He rubbed the tender area of his head as he got up.

"Don't put that on her! You should have gone earlier! Now I'm stuck here for the rest of the day with nothing to eat thanks to you." Keiko crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away from Yusuke with a harrumph.

In an attempt to console her Yusuke pointed out to one of the nearby vending machines.

"Hey, you know there's always the vending machine." Keiko got up and started walking back to the building without as much as a glance in his direction.

"Forget it!"

"What? They have the same cakes you can get from the 7/11!" Keiko didn't even bother to look back as she answered him.

"I said forget it!"

"Wait a minute! Where do you think you're going?"

At that moment Rin had had enough of their petty fight. She turned around and began to tune them out. Instead, she thought back to what the photographer said about Yusuke and about his strange occupation. If there is a slight chance of Shizen being what Yoh thinks he is then the former spirit detective would be the safest way for them to find out. Even if the risks involve the destruction of their whole race.

First, she would need to find a way to get Yusuke alone. Rin watched the brunette enter the building. She knew exactly what to do.

* * *

Thanks again for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Hello again! Sorry for the delay. I took my time in posting this because I wanted to make sure I had another couple chapters written before I posted this. I've mentioned before that majority of this is written while I'm at work. It helps pass the time when the library is slow. Enjoy!

I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker than BLACK or any of the characters. I only own my OCs.

* * *

Mei sat on the couch staring out the window. When they had come back from shopping both Yoh and Rin went their separate ways leaving Mei alone in the apartment. She didn't mind it. Mei always did prefer the silence that came from solitude. That was how majority of her life was spent after all.

A knock was heard at the door. She didn't bother with getting up to check who was there. Rin had laid strict rules for when she was gone and Mei didn't dare to disobey. Another set of knocks was heard and then another. Mei folded her hands on her lap and patiently waited for the visitor to leave, but the knocks did not let up. It was an astounding two minutes of persistent knockings later that Mei finally got up and quietly made her way to the door. Looking through the peep hole she could see a puff of white hair towards the bottom. The landlady.

 _... I guess it wouldn't hurt to see what she wants._ Mei cracked the door open and poked her head outside. "Hello Murata-san."

"Hello, dear. Is your aunt and uncle home? I brought some ohagi I made earlier today." Mei opened the door a little wider and stepped out.

"Unfortunately, they're not here right now."

"No? But it wasn't that long ago you all came back from shopping."

 _Nosey, isn't she._ "Yes, they were called in to work so they left right after."

"Poor thing!" Murata-san shoved the plate of ohagi into Mei's arms. "Make sure these get to them and don't forget to have some yourself. We need to put meat on those bones!" Murata turned around and headed for the stairs, "Good night dear."

Mei looked down at the plat of ohagi. It's been a while since she had one. 

* * *

"Nice to see you, Jin." Yoh looked up at the orange hair boy and smiled. Jin hesitated, looking at Yoh before taking his seat across the table. He dug into his bag and pulled out his laptop.

"Yeah" was all he said while proceeding to turn it on. While Yoh waited patiently for Jin to get set up their waiter came.

"Is there anything I get for the two of you?"

Without looking up Jin simply replied, "Coffee."

"Make that two, please." Yoh smiled to compensate for his partner's lack of.

"Sure." As soon as the waitress left Jin spun his laptop sideways so that Yoh could have a better look.

"I've searched Todai's database and I found this." Jin swiftly clicked through prompts and pulled up a window with Shizen's student photo on it. Next to it were small paragraphs containing information he already knew. "He applied under the surname Shibata. I checked the home address that is listed and that is in fact the Shibata residence. However, none of the records indicate a 'Shizen' being registered in the family."

"Then he's just making up an identity to throw everyone off. That doesn't bring us anywhere." Yoh glanced back at Jin unimpressed. Jin didn't even bother to acknowledge it and continued typing on his laptop, this time pulling up a different window.

"I doubled checked the family registry dating back ten years ago and found this." Yoh looked at a scanned version of a family registry for the Shibata's and there right in the middle he saw Shizen's name.

"So either he's stealing his identity or he is actually who he says he is and was just removed from the family. Either way it's convenient." Jin didn't say anything to respond as the waitress had just arrived at their table and placed two cups of hot coffee in front of them.

"Is there anything else I can get you?" Again, without any eye contact, Jin replies as he takes a sip from his cup.

"No, thank you."

"O-okay. Let me know if there's anything else I can get you." She quickly turned and left to tend to her other tables a little quicker than earlier.

"You could at least attempt to be more polite." Jin paused in his typing and looked up at Yoh.

"Is that really necessary?"

"No, but it'll keep from scaring away other people."

"I'm not particularly worried about that right now. Can we just continue with what we were doing? I have other things I need to check later."

"Sure, sure. Go on."

"I need more time to do a background check. Find out if it's really him."

"And if he is?"

"If he is then I'll have to do more research regarding where he's been and what he's been doing since the family removed him."

"And if he's not then we're back to square one. I see. I can't say it isn't common for families to disown their children especially if they're contractors so I'm not surprised why his family would want to get rid of him."

"So how do you propose we go about finding out?" Yoh rested his head on hands. He stared at the family registry of the Shibata's.

"He has a sister."

Jin nodded his head. He knew exactly what Yoh was thinking. "I'll contact Rin."

"No. I have her working on something else."

"Okay, and what are you going to do then?"

"I'm meeting with Shin later today. I'll inform him on this next task. We'll have him get in touch with the sibling."

Yoh stayed behind to finish his coffee. Jin had left minutes ago, saying something about writing up a separate report regarding Shizen's profile. He went over the information that was just given to him. If this Shizen turned out to be who he claims to be then that would completely rule out the idea Yoh had from the beginning. Meaning they would have to start all over. Besides him, Rin is the only other person to know about his theory on their target. He has kept the idea to himself for the most part and doesn't want to reveal anything to Jin or Shin until he could be certain. If word of this ever got out then he would be in some serious trouble.

Yoh sighed after taking the last sip of his coffee. They couldn't move on with the assignment with what little information they had. He would have to rely on Rin and see what she could get out of the former spirit detective. Yoh looked at his watch and saw that it was a quarter to 2:00. He would have to send his report to Yamori before going to see Rin. Getting up, he left a few bills on the table and left. 

* * *

"Hey, Keiko! I'm serious! Why is that whenever I decide to do something nice you always find an excuse to get angry about it?"

"Excuse me? You're the one with the excuses! I always have to compensate for your lack of effort."

"Lack of effort? _Lack_ of effort?! I'm here aren't I? I tried to get you a sandwich for kami's sake!"

"Yeah, but then you also tried weaseling money off of me to get _yourself_ something from the vending machine."

"Hey, c'mon. I was hungry, okay?"

"Ugh! Yusuke! Do you ever not think about yourself once in a while?"

"What?! What are you talking about? I thought about you. That's why I'm here in the first place!"

"That is so not true you-!"

At that moment a tall man sporting an orange pompadour stomped up to the couple. "Would you two be quiet? People are staring!" Keiko turned her attention to the man and gave him a glare. "EEK!"

"I'm done. I'm going to be late for class." Keiko stormed off leaving waves of anger in her path.

"Thanks, Kuwabara. You don't know how close I was to getting my head chewed off."

"No problem, even though you probably would have deserved it." The two walked to the big oak tree in the courtyard and sat down under its shade.

"Anyways, what're you doing here?"

"I go to school here you doofus."

"Oh yeah. I forgot that Todai accepts idiots on occasions."

"Hey, at least I got in. I'm not the one sitting on my bum getting yelled at by my girlfriend because I didn't get her sandwich."

"At least I was caught shoving my hands under my armpits and sniffing them."

Kuwabara gave a loud girlish sound of offense, "Ah! That's a low blow, Urameshi, and you know it!" Yusuke got and patted the dirt off from his behind.

"Ha! Like I give a crap. Anyways, see ya!" Yusuke made his way to the courtyard exit and waved a hand without looking back.

"Stupid Urameshi. Thinks he's so cool." Kuwabara started to make his way into the building mumbling profanities about how cruddy his day had begun. He rubbed the area behind his neck. "Great, now I'm having neck pains?" Kuwabara continued to rub the hot spot. It irritated his skin and he had no idea where it was coming from. He hadn't felt this kind of irritation since his last encounter with a being with massive spirit energy. And this wasn't just like any of the times before. Usually he would a tingling feeling, but this was hot and it irritated his skin.

Kuwabara quickly spun around and examined the area around him. If there was indeed a person around the area with that kind of energy that had him rubbing the skin off of his neck then it must be a strong one. Since nothing was blowing up in his general vicinity it must be alright for now. He took one more glance of a bench by some bushes.

Little did he know, he was looking at the exact spot where Rin was moments ago. 

* * *

Shin sat on a bench waiting for Yoh to arrive. He had been there for almost half an hour and he was starting to get a little impatient. Women whispered as they passed by, stealing quick glances while they were at it. This was typical for Shin. Apparently, he was told that women found him physically attractive, which was the reason for all the attention he always got from the general public. Shin could care less. Attractiveness is not a quality a contractor worried about.

He continued to gaze out into the scenery before him. It was the beginning of fall and the season of cherry blossoms had ended months ago. Another couple of girls passed him. One of them glanced his way and began to whisper in her companion's ear. The other girl looked in his direction and they both giggled as they walked further down the trail. "You're pretty popular with the ladies." Shin didn't have to look to know who it was. Yoh came around from behind and sat down next to him.

"You're only 38 minutes late."

"Sorry about that. I was meeting up with Jin earlier and things just turned a bit more complicated than I thought. So, what have you found?"

"You see that sandwich stand over there?" Shin pointed to a stand down the trail a ways. It was a small cart with a red and white stripped umbrella. There was a young boy managing it. "I've been going there the last few days."

"You've had a sandwich craving?"

"No, but it's the only thing around here I'll eat. I happened to discover this by chance; the boy has regular customers. Shizen is one of them."

"Wait, how were you able to get that out of him?" Shin sighed and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees.

"The third time I went there he said he recognized me from the first couple of visits. He mentioned that he gets quite a few regulars that walk the park. I happened to have a copy of Shizen's photo and asked him if he was one of them and he said yes although he hasn't seen him in weeks. Apparently, he's been here every day up until recently."

"Fits the time line of when he disappeared. His frequent visits here could just be routine."

"I've only been here a couple days. I could stay longer."

"No, I have something else for you to do." Shin sat up and looked at Yoh showing him that he was listening. "He has a sister and I want you to meet her."

Shin blinked once... Then twice. "A sister?"

"Yeah, Jin found out that he's been using the surname Shibata and the residence matches. He was removed from the family registry so currently we don't know what the situation is or why he was removed in the first place. I want you to get in contact with his supposed sibling, find out if he is connected to this family, and if he is, see if you can find his whereabouts for the past ten years. I already have Jin starting on it, but I want to know where his 'family' thinks he's been." Shin combed a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Why aren't you having Rin do this?"

"She's busy working on something else." Yoh got up from the bench, pulled something out of his back pocket and handed it to Shin. Shin didn't move to grab it and instead just looked at the photo. It was a photo of girl in a high school uniform. Short black hair cut into a bob framed her small face and big brown eyes. Shin tried to see if there was a resemblance between the two supposed siblings, but couldn't really point anything out. He grabbed the photo from Yoh and flipped it over. "She attends Iwakura High School as a third year. What you see on the back of the photo is the home address." Shin tucked the photo in his back pocket along with the one of Shizen. "I'll check in with you every now and then. If you find out anything make sure you bring it to me. Once Jin has finished a more thorough background check we'll get together and then go from there." Shin didn't move from his spot and instead continued to stare at the ground. "School is about to get out. It's an eleven minute walk from here so I suggest you get going." Shin grunted and got up. He left Yoh without another word. "Now, I think I'll have a sandwich for lunch." 

* * *

Thanks so much for taking the time to read. As always, I'm open to any advice you may have regarding my horrible grammar, story flow, etc etc. See you soon!

Oh, and I am still working on looking for a beta reader. If you or anyone you know are interested please let me know! Thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

Hello! I am back! Sorry for the wait. I was on vacation in Japan! My back hurts from so much walking...

 **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker than BLACK, or any of their characters. I only own my OC's.**

* * *

Shin was walking along the sidewalk thinking of ways to approach the girl. The walk from the park to the high school is 11 minutes and he was already halfway there. He had five more minutes to think of a plan. He knew next to nothing about the girl so he couldn't appeal to her interests. Heck, he didn't even know her name aside from the family one.

He arrived across the street from the school. The bell had just rung and the first pool of students started to trickle out the gates. Shin stood at the curb waiting for the black haired girl to show. He did a lot of waiting today.

The stream of students began to thin out and Shin was starting to hope that she wasn't on cleaning duty. He would be there for the rest of the afternoon if that were the case. Then, as if on cue, he saw her walk out from behind the gate with a couple of her friends. She looked exactly like the photo he was given, but the question remained: now what? He wasn't sure how he was going to do this. Usually he would be given a full profile of his targets so he could learn about them from the inside out, but because this task was given to him unofficially he had absolutely nothing. And Shin detested working from scratch.

The young girl departed ways from her friends at the front of the gate. Shin observed as she began to cross the road. She didn't even look and a car had just turned the corner. Is she stupid or just blind? It didn't matter to Shin because this gave him the opportunity he needed. He waited a few more seconds for the car to speed closer to his target and just moments before impact he darted out into the street and collided with the girl, "Watch out!" The two went tumbling to the side of the street. Both of his arms were tightly encompassing the girl refusing to let go until the car came to a screeching stop. Shin slammed his right arm onto the curb in the process. . The driver rolled down his window and peered over looking at the two on the ground.

"Watch where you're going little girl!" The two slowly got up as the driver started to drive away.

"Stop speeding!" Shin yelled after him. He massaged his aching arm and turned to lend a hand to the girl. "Hey, are you alright? That was a close one." The girl looked up at him with wide eyes still trying to process what had just happened.

"Y-you saved my life." She looked at his hand and hesitantly grasped onto it. Shin pulled her up and started to dust off her coat.

"You aren't hurt are you?" He stole a glance at the girl. She had her head down so he couldn't see her eyes, but he saw the faintest tint of pink brushed across her cheeks.

"I'm f-fine. Just a little sh-shooken up is all. What about you? Are y-you hurt?" She looked up at him and it was the first time she could get a clear view of her savior's face. Her breath hitched as her eyes befell the handsome man that was her hero. His dark, spiky, luscious hair flew gently in the breeze. He had dark mysterious eyes, voids that would suck you in and never let you out. Standing at a full head taller than her he had a slim, but slightly lean build to him.

"Miss?" The girl didn't respond. She kept staring at him and it was starting to bother him. Maybe she hit her head when they went tumbling across the street. "Miss?" Shin said a little louder. The girl snapped from her daze. She shook her head and looked away embarrassed that she got caught looking longer than she should have.

"I-I'm sorry." She side glanced and saw that Shin was holding onto his right arm. "Oh! Are you hurt? I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you were injured." Shin let go of his arm quickly.

"Oh, no! It's fine. Probably just a bruise. I'm worried about you though. We did hit the ground pretty hard. You didn't hit your head or anything did you?

"No, I'm fine thanks." Silence followed. Shin was still trying to figure out the fastest and efficient way to get close to her. "This might be a little forward of me, but would it be okay if I walked you home?"

"Eh?!" Her face went through at least five different shades of red before settling in to a deep red.

Shin was expecting this reaction and played his next card. "Well, I mean, I just want to make sure you get home safely is all. I didn't mean it in a creepy way. It'll put my mind to ease if you'd let me. I'd hate to think that I just left you if you were in fact injured. It was my fault after all that we were rolling in the street." The girl didn't look him in eye. She was beyond embarrassed and confused as to why someone as handsome as him would want to walk a little ol' plain Jane like her home. He did say it was just to make sure she was okay...

 _What the heck. It's not every day a good looking guy like him asks to walk you home._ "Sure, I mean, I guess it's okay."

"Great! Which way do you live?"

"This way." The two walked down the street. This was going so smoothly for Shin. Not only had he gotten her attention, but he was well on his way to her home without having the trouble of finding it himself.

The two walked in an awkward silence. He was wondering how he should set the atmosphere. "So, um, my name's Takenaga Shin. What's yours?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I was so caught up in the accident that I forgot to introduce myself." The girl threw a quick bow in Shin's direction, "My name is Shibata. Shibata Rin." Shin mentally face palmed himself.

 _This is going to be a long day,_ he thought.

* * *

Mei sat in the kitchen at the dining table. The food she had made was starting to get cold. She was actually planning on having dinner by herself tonight, but when Rin had entered the apartment she figured it would be better to wait. Rin had been in her room for the past hour. Not a word was exchanged between the two. Still, Mei sat patiently for her comrade to finish her business and come join her for a meal.

She looked down at the bowls of miso soup. The hot steam was gone and the cloudy texture of the broth had settled at the bottom of the bowl leaving a somewhat clear beige liquid. It had been a while since she had the chance to cook a decent meal. Often times she would purchase some things at the convenience store, or Yoh would make them canned goods. She didn't care though as long as her body got the nourishment she needs.

The door knob to Rin and Yoh's room turned and the door squeaked open as Rin stepped out. She had her long black jacket and gloves on. She must be heading off somewhere to take care of 'business'.

Rin looked across the hallway into the kitchen and found Mei sitting at a table filled with food. She was just on her way to meeting with her target but realization dawned on her that she hadn't eaten since lunch when her stomach started growling. Best not to confront what may be a hostile situation on an empty stomach. Rin walked into the kitchen and sat down across the table. She picked up a bowl of rice and chopsticks and started scarfing down the meal. Mei went through the same motions but at a slower pace. "Has Yoh come back yet?" she asked the silver haired girl without looking up from her bowl.

"No," was her reply. It was already six pm in the evening. What could he be doing?

Rin shoved two more spoons full before she went to set the bowl in the sink. "I'll be home late. No visits to Murata's tonight." She walked over to the genkan and slipped on her boots. Mei walked into the hallway after her.

"How late?"

"Depends." Rin shut the door behind her and left Mei home alone once again.

The sun began to set as Rin waited outside the gates of Todai. Rin had made a request earlier in the day for Keiko's schedule from Jin. According to the piece of paper in her hand she should be done with classes for the day by now. Rin tapped her foot impatiently. She had a long day and was eager to get back to her bed.

Just then a familiar voice was heard in the distance. "Alright, I'll see you tomorrow! Don't forget to study for the test."

"Of course! See you, Keiko." Rin backed away a couple of feet from the gate. She waited until she could hear Keiko's footsteps reach the gate. Timing it correctly Rin started to slowly and casually make her way towards the gate as well. Feigning observation of her surroundings, she collided into Keiko.

"Umph-" Keiko dropped her book bag spilling the contents.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Let me help you." Rin and Keiko bent down to gather the books.

"Don't worry about it. I should have been watching where I was going."

"No, I should be watching where I was going. I got distracted by the view. This school is huge." Rin handed the books to Keiko. She slipped them into her bag and the two stood up finally facing each other. "Hey, aren't you that girl that was yelling at that boy earlier about a sandwich?" Keiko blushed in embarrassment.

"Heh, you saw that? Yes, I am but I had good reason to. If I let things like that slide too much who knows how rogue he'll go."

Rin let out a small giggle. "No worries. I've been meaning to apologize."

"What for?"

"Well it was because of me after all that he wasn't able to get you your sandwich."

"Oh that? Don't even think about it. That's in the past and I'm way over it. I'll just have Yusuke treat me out to dinner or something."

"Yeah, but I still can't help but feel responsible."

Keiko waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss the subject. "Seriously, don't. It's nothing to worry about."

"Really, you gotta let me do something to make it up to you or else it's going to drive me crazy."

"You're like that too, huh? I know the feeling all too well." Keiko giggled at the thought that someone else out there had the similar trait.

"How about this? It's the end of the day and I assume you're done with class so how about I take you out to dinner instead?"

"What? No, I couldn't possibly impose."

"You're not imposing. I've had a long day of classes and I could use a friend and some good food. Studying makes me hungry anyway." Keiko laughed out loud this time. This was going pretty smoothly.

"I know that feeling all too well also. You know what, I think I'll take you up on that offer under one condition."

"What's that?" Rin raised an eyebrow. What was this girl up to...?

"You can join me as company for dinner, but I insist on paying for my own food. Like you I've had a pretty long day and I could use a friend as well." Keiko gave her a sincere smile and Rin returned it.

"Sure thing." The two started heading in no specific direction as Rin lead them away from the university. "I know a pretty decent restaurant not too far from here if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Lead the way." The girls chatted away as they made their way down the street.

So far so good.

* * *

Thanks for reading! I appreciate you taking your time to check this out. :D


	7. Chapter 7

Finally, an update! Work has been pretty busy so I haven't had the time to sneak around and post this up.

 **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker Than Black or any of it's characters. I only own my OCs.**

Forthwith!

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me. Are you serious?" Keiko took her fork and went for another stab at her salad.

"I'm not! They got my registration papers mixed up and because of that I was forced to wait another year before I could start the semester."

"And they were willing to fund for your entire first year? I wouldn't know whether I'd be upset or happy if I were in your situation. I mean tuition at Todai is no joke."

"You're telling me." Rin took the pause in the conversation to take another bite of her hamburger steak. It's been so long since she had a decent meal so she savored every last morsel, "Better late than never."

"Yeah, you're right but still, lost time is something you can never get back. Aren't you at least a bit upset?"

Rin startled at the thought. Had she actually been a student in these circumstances would she upset about her lost time? Lost time isn't something she ever had to worry about. She always had something of importance to do and when she wasn't busy she was resting her body for her next big assignment. Lost time was an unfamiliar subject. "I can't say that I am. I got a lot done in the past year," and by that she meant a lot of assignments, rogue contractors behind Syndicate bars, numerous deaths on her hands, and lots of secret packages delivered safely on her two-wheeler. Yeah, lost time wasn't an issue, but if she didn't get herself and Keiko out of here soon it might be.

Rin finished the last bits of her steak and looked at Keiko's plate. Her plate was, for the most part, cleared but she still has pieces of lettuce and tomatoes scattered all over her plate. For a starving girl this one didn't eat much. "Well, that was a much needed meal. How was yours?"

"Delicious. You were right about this place. It's nice." Keiko commented.

Rin looked at her watch. It was almost 7:30. She would have to move this along if she was going to catch Yusuke. "Let's pay our tab and leave. It's getting late." The two women went up front to the register and paid their bill.

As Rin stepped out into the cool, crisp air she contemplated which direction she should execute her plan. "Well, I live this way so I guess I'll see you around campus?"

"Of course, thanks for the company. See you later" and they went their separate ways.

Rin took slow strides making sure to put some distance between her and Keiko before she turned back around and started following the woman.

Keiko round the corner and disappeared. Rin wasn't too worried and continued to follow from a distance. About twenty minutes of walking she ducked into an alley. Quickly, she dropped her backpack and yanked out her long coat and her white mask. She dawn both items and tucked her hair underneath pulling the hood over her head further concealing her identity. Rin folded up the bag and stuffed it into of her pockets as she grabbed a pair of black leather gloves from the other. She walked back out onto the street in brisk strides while slipping on the gloves. Running up behind Keiko in silent steps she took the edge of her right hand and slammed it against the lower part of Keiko's neck, effectively knocking her out without injury. The girl slumped to the ground not even realizing what was happening as darkness immediately consumed her.

Rin bent down to pick her up, slinging Keiko's right arm around her neck and placing her own left arm securely around her waist. She dragged her off into the dark alley next to them in swiftness.

* * *

Yusuke reached in his pocket for the keys to Keiko's apartment. He had just gotten back from a quick trip to the Maikai. While Yusuke had been on leave from Tourin he left Hokushin in charge. He was supposed to return today, but after his little spat with Keiko he decided it would a better idea to stick around for a couple more days. It wouldn't do him any good to leave her on bad terms. Yusuke went back to notify Hokushin of his extended leave and to also check up on his land.

He finally fished the keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. He was greeted with nothing but darkness. "Strange, she should be home by now." He walked in and removed his shoes. "Hey Keiko, I'm back! Are you sleeping?" he shouted through the hallway. He walked over to her bed room and flipped on the lights not caring if she was indeed asleep in her room, but he found her futon empty. "Where could she be at this hour?"

Yusuke stepped out into the living and decided to make himself comfortable while he waited for Keiko to return home.

Just as he got settled in on the seat pillows on the floor the tv across the room clicked on. Yusuke didn't bother to move and only slightly opened up one eye to the sudden disturbance. Figuring he was just laying on the remote he closed his eye and went back to relaxing, leaving the tv on for background noise. He laid there still for a few seconds anticipating the noise of the television, but was rewarded with the humming sound of the black screen. Yusuke opened his eyes in annoyance and got up to look for the remote. He flipped the pillows over and found nothing there. He found it sitting on the table the whole time which he thought was strange but didn't think anything of it. Taking the remote he looked up at the TV and meant to click it off, but what he saw on the screen made his body still.

There on the screen were four panels flipping to different images every few seconds just like a security camera. Yusuke's eyes darted from panel to panel every time it changed. Each time he did a small ball of rage grew deep within the pit of his stomach. Images of Keiko blind folded; gagged, slumped over and tied to a chair appeared before him. They were showing him views from other angles and repeated in that fashion.

Yusuke continued to look at the images trying to look for any clues or signs of where she may be, but the only thing visible was her under the spotlight.

"Dammit!" the hand holding the remote slammed into the coffee table in front of him crushing the device into pieces. Suddenly, images on the panels began to change. What was going on now? Who could be targeting him? Why would they be targeting them? Is it a demon? Did some asshole from the Makai sneak his way through his portal without even knowing about it? So many thoughts went across his. He couldn't think straight. He looked up at the screen again and saw that different video images were appearing now, with the occasional shot of Keiko. One appeared to be from a street camera viewing a spot on an empty road right under the street lamp. Another one was of a silhouette of what seemed to be a square-ish building. It flipped back to a shot of Keiko again.

Yusuke sat glaring at the screen as if to will it to move faster through its rotation. Finally the panels disappeared and the screen's contents just merged to one full view of Keiko in the chair. The slight humming noise from the TV was gone and was replaced by slight echoes of footsteps. Out from the shadows came a pair of black boots. The figure walked into the light towards Keiko's stilled body. He stopped just a few steps later, enough so that the upper portion of his body was still shrouded in darkness.

Yusuke's hands gripped onto the remains of the remote. The pieces left of the poor device crumbled into nothing but dust. His knuckles whitened at the grip. He was furious, white hot anger coursed through his body. Who was this person and how _dare_ he have the audacity to mess with him.

The screen blanked and then numbers showed up, counting down. Whoever this was, he was telling him he had exactly one hour to find Keiko and after that who knows what?

Yusuke slammed his fist one more time onto the table, effectively destroying it beyond repair. He got up and ran out the door slamming it closed behind him. Sprinting down the street he headed for the only location that slightly resembled the images from the video cam.

He was going to find Keiko and once he did he was going to kill her kidnapper.

* * *

Rin sat in silence. She waited in the dark and abandoned warehouse in the chair Keiko had occupied not too long ago.

After Rin had managed to drag Keiko to the warehouse she had made a couple of quick phone calls to her colleagues asking for favors. Shin arrived moments later. By then Rin had already tied Keiko to the chair, gagged and blindfolded. She filled Shin in on the plan mentioning this was slightly off her official assignment and asked for him to not include this into his report to HQ.

"Once I'm done here I need you to bring her back to her home safely. I need her out of the way before the person I am expecting gets here."

Shin didn't ask any questions and just sat himself on a crate in the corner of the warehouse. He looked around observing his surroundings and found a couple cameras set up in the warehouse. He guessed Jin must be on it too. To confirm his suspicions Rin was heard talking on her phone, "Everything is ready. Go ahead and start recording."

The room was silent for a few minutes. Shin could hear the small movements of the cameras around the building move, capturing images of the victim before them. He watched Rin take a few steps into the light and stopped, careful so that she didn't reveal her entire self to the cameras. The buzz of Rin's phone echoed interrupting the silence. She picked it up immediately. There was a pause as the caller on the other side spoke. Shin knew it was Jin on the phone. He was wondering if he should ask Rin what exactly she was up, but brushed the thought away. He didn't really care.

"Send this as soon as you see him enter the apartment and call me right after he leaves." Rin closed her cellular device and tucked it into her pocket. She walked over to Keiko and started untying her hands and ankles from the chair. She removed the gag and blindfold and motion to Shin for him to come over. She handed him a piece of paper and he opened it. On it was an address. "That's her home address. I need you to bring her back as quickly as possible. I'm expecting her partner here soon."

Shin lifted Keiko onto his back. He shifted her body higher on his back so that she would not fall over. "And what exactly do I get out of this?"

Rin started at him blankly, "I have nothing to offer you at the moment, but if you ever need my assistance in the near future I will be obliged to help."

Shin snorted at the word. "Obliged," Rin didn't miss the sarcastic tone in his voice and shot him an empty glare. She walked over to the big sliding doors and opened them to let Shin through. She mumbled a thank you as he walked past her and out of the warehouse.

* * *

Yusuke was panting and out of breath. He was bent over, hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. He had finally arrived at the spot that now held fond memories of the past though weren't so fond at the time that particular event happened.

The building that stood before him was the abandoned warehouse where Keiko was first abducted and taken to by Hiei. Now that he had thought about it how long ago was that? It had been years since then and he couldn't believe where the time had gone. Yusuke shook his thoughts away. Now was not the time to reminisce. He had to find out where Keiko was before it was too late. He check his watch; only twenty minutes left to find out if she was here and if not then he was doomed because there would not be enough time for him to search elsewhere.

Yusuke jogged closer to the building. As he did he could begin to feel the slight presence of someone in within the walls, but what was strange was that he could only feel one person in there and it was not the familiar feeling of Keiko. Yusuke slowed his pace as he got closer. The energy in the building started to grow and twist as if the person inside had sense he was there.

Yusuke couldn't place his finger on it, but the energy he was trying to read was a bit different than what he had ever experience. It wasn't a demon that was for sure, it didn't feel anything of the sinister like. It also wasn't quite human either. He wondered for a second if it was something comparable to Kuwabara's with his high amounts of spiritual energy for a human being, but decided it was slightly more different than that. The energy flowed smoothly around the body, but had sporadic pulses here and there. What puzzled him most was that not only was the spirit energy flow of this person different but it felt like a completely different form of energy entirely. It was empty, a powerful presence with an empty shell.

Yusuke took hold of the door and slid it open. This was it. He was sure this was the place. He could feel slight trails of Keiko's presence having been there, but where was she now? "Alright, if this is your idea of some sick joke I am not impressed!" he shouted into the darkness. Yusuke considered once if this was Hiei's warped idea of playing fun but quickly dispelled the thought. Was this just coincidence? Was he reliving his life years ago?

The light flickered on and in the middle stood an empty chair. There were ropes lying on the floor, probably the same ones that were used to tie Keiko up. Footsteps were heard and surely a figured revealed himself into the light. Any and all confusion from before had left Yusuke and was replace with anger, "Who are you, why did you do this, where is Keiko, and are you ready for me to snap your neck?" The figure did not respond and stood there unmoving. Yusuke was quickly getting annoyed and impatient, but he couldn't just rush into it. He needed to find out where Keiko was before he knocks the guy's lights out.

As if reading his thoughts the person before him spoke in a flat tone. "She's safely back at her home. There is no need to worry."

"What?" was all he said. He was surprised to find that Keiko's captor was not a man, but a female judging from her voice.

"I took her but meant no harm. I simply needed to grab your attention as I have a request."

Yusuke snorted, "Why would you do that? Are you stupid? What makes you think I believe you? You kidnapped my girlfriend!" Yusuke watch as her hand went into her pocket. He body stiffened and immediately went into a defensive stance. The kidnapper pulled out a cell phone. She bent down and slid the phone over to him.

"Call her. She should be awake by now." Yusuke stared at the phone and after finally deciding that it wasn't a bomb picked it up. He opened it and dialed the number quickly. He mentally counted four rings before a familiar voice picked up the phone.

"Hello? This is Keiko." Yusuke's eyes widened the slightest bit in shock and relief.

"Keiko?"

"Yusuke, is that you? Where are you?"

"I'm out right now. Just thought I'd check in. Listen, I'll call you back."

"Hey, wait a se-, "he ended the call and sighed in relief. Yusuke tossed the phone back to the stranger, "Alright, you proved one point, but you must be really stupid. I mean, now that I know she's safe I have no reason to help and nothing holding me back from slugging you in the face."

"Don't be so quick to judge. She may be safe in her home, but she definitely isn't so far out of my reach that I wouldn't have some sort of leverage." Yusuke narrowed his eyes.

"What are you talking about?" his voice suddenly low and serious.

"Do you see those cameras I set up around us?" Yusuke took four seconds and darted his eyes around the room. He counted three.

"What about them?"

"A colleague of mine is watching from the other side. If I give him the signal he can contact another one us who is so patiently waiting outside your partner's door."

Yusuke can feel his anger seeping back into his body but he couldn't let it get the best of him. He had to make sure Keiko remained safe and in order to do that he couldn't afford any stupid mistakes. "Fine, my hands are tied. What do you want from me?" he spoke through gritted teeth.

The woman crossed her arms, "Let's not stall any more time. I'll get straight to the point."

* * *

What now?! What is our mysterious Rin up to and what does she want from our favorite hanyou spirit detective? Also, I'm wondering if I should start including a small summary for following chapters at the end of every one... Let me know if it seems like a good idea!

Thanks for reading! Review any questions, comments, ideas, complaints, blah blah blah, etc. bahahaha and see you next time!


	8. Chapter 8

Hello again! Decided to post up another chapter for this week since it took me a while to get 7 up. Heh heh, 7up.

 **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker Than BLACK, or any of its characters. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

Yoh walked into the apartment. It was late and he was in dire need of some proper sleep. Tonight would be the first night in weeks that he would be able to sleep soundly on an actual futon and he was looking forward to it. He walked into the end of the hallway towards his shared room until he saw Mei sitting on the couch in the living room. "What are you doing up this late?" Mei looked up from her book. Actually, she was reading a manual she found in one of the cabinets for a coffee machine they didn't own. "And why are you reading a manual?"

"I was waiting for you and Rin to come back and there was nothing else to do."

Yoh glanced at the wall clock behind Mei, _10:30._ "I'm here for the remainder of the night. Go to bed. I'll take you to go get some books in the morning."

Mei closed the manual and left it on the couch. Yoh watched her as she nimbly made her way past him to her room. Yoh flicked the switch for the living room lights off and went into his own room for the night.

As he was getting the two-person futon ready all he could think about was the report he had pulled from his pile of old assignments back at HQ. The particular assignment was when he had first encountered a demon or, in better terms, one particular hanyou.

As Yoh laid down to rest his travel weary body he thought about today's work and how much trouble he would be in if the Syndicate were to ever find out that he had led his team to associate themselves with a demon. They would be executed to make sure none of it got to Reikai, but with the Hanyou on the loose there was no way for them to make sure he would keep quiet. They couldn't kill him because that would alert Enma and thus breaking their contract with Reikai resulting in total annihilation of their kind. But they also couldn't just let him go and hope he would keep the secret of the entire existence of contractors. What would they do? Bribe him with a cookie and hope he doesn't go running to the little demigod?

That's right; Yoh was quite knowledgeable about the existence of the Maikai and Reikai. Contractors like him were forced to sworn an oath that they would never reveal what they were and including their little secret society to anyone outside their own. They were especially and specifically told not to ever associate or even imply the knowledge of demons. Because of a demon's nature, if any were to ever find out of a contractor's existence and what they were capable of all hell would break loose. Contractors make the perfect weapon, and if some demon was audacious enough to gather and build an army of soulless beings then the Ningenkai would be in serious trouble.

All these risks and yet he still chose to go about the assignment this way. As soon as Yoh had heard about the rumors of Shizen he knew almost immediately. There is no history of any contractor ever having the ability to use their powers without equal payment. There is only one way for someone like Shizen to control the elements without that and that is to be a demon.

Shizen was a demon and Yoh knew it. He had been frustrated ever since the assignment was given to him. Was the Syndicate playing a crude joke with him? Or were they just clueless and really believed Shizen to be some sort of exceptional oddity they wanted back for experimentation? The Syndicate had appointed Yamori, one of its own council men, to head the assignment. They must be desperate to get him back under custody.

As sure as he was, if Shizen was a demon then Yoh would have to find some sort of medium between the two races to find and capture him. And the young hanyou he had met years ago on that assignment was exactly who he needed.

Yoh shifted his body and looked to his right at the unoccupied space of the futon. If anyone contractor was qualified to obtain the assistance of a demon under wraps, it was Rin.

* * *

"So let me get this straight. You want me to help you capture this rogue, possibly a demon, guy because you cannot associate yourself with demons. But somehow you were able to sneak around and use stupid tactics, like KIDNAP my girlfriend, to get my attention, and I am your safest bet to do this without having your boss know?" Yusuke was flinging his arms in overly dramatic gestures.

"Yes," was all Rin said as she nodded her head.

"Do you know how crazy you sound? And when are you going to take that mask off? It's creeping me out!"

"Until I can ensure that you will help us to retrieve this man I cannot reveal my identity to you."

"Yeah whatever, Jason." He itched his head in confusion. "And what exactly am I getting out of this?"

Rin sighed. How much should she reveal until he would agree to assist them? She was already treading on thin ice just talking to him. "If you want to prevent a mass execution, possibly a war, and hundreds perhaps even thousands of injured lives, then I suggest you help me."

Yusuke's eyes widened in shock, "You didn't say anything about a war breaking out or people dying."

"As you said before, you are my safest option if I want to capture this man without compromising this assignment. All of this can be prevented if you can agree to do so."

"You don't even know for sure he's a demon."

"My team lead seems to think so."

"Oh yeah? And who would that be?"

 _Damn it._ Rin had accidentally revealed Yoh's identity to him and mentally slapped herself for it. Switching tactics, Rin decided on another approach, "Never mind that. What is it going to take for you to agree to this? Do I need to dangle that girl in front of your face?" Yusuke's face grew dark. His eyes sent a menacing glare in her direction.

"Don't even joke about that. It's bad enough that you did it once."

Rin sighed a bigger one this time. She was getting impatient and was running out of options. "I'm going to lay this out for you one more time. There is a rogue man on the loose causing havoc with his mystical demon like powers and attracting unwanted attention. My job is to capture him and bring him back before he decides to hurt or _kill_ anyone. Unbeknownst to my 'employer' there is a high chance of this man being a demon and because of that I cannot touch him unless I want to risk the lives of thousands of people."

"And why is that anyway?" Yusuke interrupted.

Rin tapped her fingers on her arm going over what she should tell and what she should not. "That part is a little complicated." Yoh was going to give her hell for this, but damn it all! "Let's compromise. If you agree to help me catch this man, then I will take you to meet my team leader. He can tell you all about us and what we are doing. You can ask any other questions you may have to him. I will also call off my men and leave your significant other unharmed."

Yusuke thought it over. He really didn't want to get into the middle of this, but if what she said is true then thousands of lives would be at stake but from what? "I just have to help you catch the guy, right? I don't have to hurt him do I?"

"No, as soon as you can bring us to him we will take care of the rest."

"What is 'take care of the rest'? Are you gonna kill him?"

"You ask too many questions. Agree to help and I will bring you to someone who will answer them."

"Well, you can't blame me for asking. You are asking _me_ to help _you_ after all."

Rin was really irritated now, but her rational side told her she shouldn't be, "Yes or no?" She asked raising her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jeez, no need to get your panties in a bunch," and mumbled, "If anyone should get angry it should be me." Rin didn't miss the comment but let it slide anyway.

"Good. Meet me here again tomorrow night, same time."

"Whatever," Yusuke turned his back and started to walk out but before he could exit Rin had one more things to say.

"I have one condition. I need you to keep this quiet. No one hears about this, do you understand? This is between you and us."

Yusuke twitched his eyes and turned around, "You tell me this now?!"

"Trust in me that I will do no harm to you or the people around you as I have decided to placed my trust in you to keep this quiet, despite the more rational side of my brain saying that I shouldn't."

He gave a long and exasperated sigh. "Okay, I agree to help you and to keep my trap shut about it, but I want answers to all of my questions. Got it?"

"Yes, I will make sure that you get them."

"Good, now are we done here? I'm hungry and I haven't eaten all night."

"Go as you please."

Yusuke stepped out of the warehouse and didn't look back. What did he just get himself into? Just as things were finally settling down some crazy lunatic of a woman had to come and disrupt his peace. Even after all those years of working for Koenma, saving the world, and getting his as beat every now and then he still couldn't catch a break.

He turned back around to find that the warehouse behind him was dark and empty once again. He had hoped he would never have to come to this place again, but his past couldn't seem to leave him alone and he would have to be here once more tomorrow.

Yusuke was still very suspicious about this group of people, if they even are people. Regardless of the unintentional promises she made he still couldn't trust her. To make sure nothing fishy was going on behind the scenes he would have to seek advice from an old friend.

* * *

It was nearing midnight when Rin had finally returned to the apartment. Yusuke's incapability to comprehend and Rin having to repeat everything had drained her. She walked into her room and started to strip down to her unmentionables. She found Yoh already fast asleep and got under the covers next to him.

It wasn't uncomfortable for her at all that she was nearly naked and sharing a bed with another man. It's not as if there were any feelings involved. Besides, if Rin was looking to get a good night's rest then this spot was the only option. This wouldn't be the first time anyways.

"Yoh," she said quietly, "I need to talk to you." Yoh groaned sleepily and turned over to face Rin. He peeked at her with one lazy eye.

"Can it wait till tomorrow?"

"...Sure." Yoh closed his eye and immediately went back into his slumber. Rin turn on her side away from Yoh and closed her eyes as well. She would have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow.

Morning came and Mei was the first one up. The sun had just barely broken through the horizon when she started on breakfast. Both Rin and Yoh had come home rather late last night and neither of them had dinner. Mei decided she would prepare a little something extra to help her colleagues get through the day.

She was rolling the last bit of the tamago when Yoh walked out from the bedroom dressed in just a shirt and some jeans. "It's going to be a bit cooler today. I suggest taking a sweater with you."

Yoh didn't say anything as he turned around and went back inside the room to grab a sweater. He quietly made his way around the futon where Rin was still asleep, careful not to make any sudden noises that might wake her. A slight breeze fluttered through the curtains. Mei was right. Fall was finally making its way around the corner which meant winter wasn't far off. Yoh always found it a bit difficult to work during the winter mainly because the cold would usually give him a headache whenever he decided to use his abilities.

Rin sighed in her sleep and turned over, the blanket falling below her shoulders. Taking notice of Rin's lack of clothing, Yoh went over to shut the window and pulled the covers back up to her neck. "If I didn't know any better, Id thinks you two were actually a married couple."

Yoh looked up and saw Mei standing by the doorway. "I have a lot of things for her to do and I can't afford her getting sick."

"Breakfast is getting cold." Mei turned away from the room and went back to the kitchen. Yoh followed her and grabbed a seat at the table. He quickly ate enough to sustain his body for majority of the day. "What took you so long to come home last night?" Mei asked suddenly.

Yoh paused for a few second before putting down his chopsticks, "After I met with Shin I had to write up a report for Yamori. The closest carrier was an hour train ride from here."

"Couldn't you just have Jin send it for you?"

Yoh smiled at Mei, "You know me I'm old fashioned."

 _There he goes, flashing that fake smile of his._ "What about Rin? I didn't even notice her come in last night."

"I'm not sure myself; you'll have to ask her once she wakes." Yoh took a look at watch and got up to wash his dishes. "Speaking of which, let's go before she wakes up."

"Why?" asked Mei. She was in the genkan putting on her shoes.

"I think she was too tired to realize that she got into bed half naked again.

"But she always does that. It's nothing new," and it was true. Rin was a nudist at home. She didn't care for the modesty of clothing when there was no one around to see her. At least that was how it was when she was managing her assignments alone. Although, she has been trying to remind herself that she had traveling companions now and stripping down to her birthday suit would be rude and uncomfortable, especially for Mei who was still a budding young lady. Yoh, on the other hand, was a different story.

"Yes, but I'd rather not be here when she wakes up. Let's give her some time to work off that nudist hobby of hers so that we can come back to a fully clothed Rin." That was another thing. Rin would sometimes forget that Yoh and Mei were around and would walk out from under the covers and forget that she was almost bearing it all in front of them.

Mei nodded her head in agreement and the two walked out. "So what kind of books are you thinking of getting, Mei?"

"Maybe some mystery books. You and Rin have been lacking in the exciting department with your assignments lately. I need my fix."

"Fair enough. Well, let's get you some mystery books then."

Rin woke up to the heat of the sun beating on her face. She turned her head slightly and looked out the window from the futon. It was another beautiful day and she would have to get up soon if she was planning on being useful today. Rin got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She noticed Yoh's side of the futon was empty and frowned in disappointment. She was hoping to talk to him before he left, but it didn't look like she would get the chance.

Proving Yoh's earlier comment about Rin's nudist habits, she walked out of the room towards the bathroom without even a second thought as to what clothing she was lacking. There wasn't anything else she could do since Yoh had already left so a hot shower was in order for the chilly day ahead of her.

* * *

We got a little bit more info on our clan of contractors here as well as some of Rin's odd habits. Rin? A nudist? Naaaaaahhh... _

 **lilnightmare17:** Thanks for the review! I really appreciate you taking your time to read this as well! So far you're my only one :( lol. Yeah, it took quite a bit of chapters for those two to finally meet, but I just wanted to make sure I had most of everything set up before hand. The juicy parts will come! I promise you :p

Thanks a mil for reading and see you next time!


	9. Chapter 9

Hello again my fabulous readers! I present to you, chapter 9.

 **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker Than BLACK, or any of its characters. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

After last night's events Yusuke decided to go back to the Makai. This time he traveled all way to Gandara to look for Kurama. Yusuke found him walking around what looked like a gigantic green house on Yomi's compound.

"Yusuke, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I have to talk to you, privately."

Kurama gave a slight chuckle, "You don't like to beat around the bush do you."

"It's rather urgent."

Seeing Yusuke tense up Kurama figured this was pretty important. He pulled away from the lush greenery, "Let us go to Tourin and then we can talk. There are too many ears here."

"Right."

As soon as the two passed into Tourin's borders Yusuke led Kurama on a different path away from his home. They went deeper and deeper into one of the many forests of the Maikai. Soon enough they found themselves at the edge of a cliff overlooking the vast lands. Kurama stood there quietly, waiting for Yusuke to start. "Keiko was kidnapped last night," he went to tell Kurama about his encounter the night before and about what they wanted from him. He mentioned in small detail about the man they were after and didn't leave out the fact that they think him to be a demon.

"If he is a demon then shouldn't this be dealt with by Reikai?" Kurama asked. If he was confused he showed no signs of it.

"That's what I thought too, but it looks like they're working for someone else. Is there some kind of secret organization like Reikai that we don't know about? Because that was the shadiest girl I've ever met and I don't trust one bone in her body, promises or not. I'm not getting into this by myself."

"And so you've decided to drag me into this as well? You know how upset they will be once they find out you told their secret and to a demon none the less."

"You were the only one I could think of. You're smart when it comes to these things. What should I do?"

Kurama folded his arms and tilted his head thinking. "I suppose you could go along with it. At least see who this man is. If he is a threat to the human race and indeed a demon then Koenma will hear of it and deal with him himself." Kurama paused; he didn't look at Yusuke as if he was still thinking of what to say. "What I am curious about is who this woman is you came in contact with. You said her spirit energy was different, how so?"

Yusuke shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. It was spiky, like sharp pulses. It felt weird too. I was half expecting it push around my own energy, but when I got close it just kind of went through me. I was planning on asking them about that once I meet up with them again tomorrow night. I was promised answers if I agreed to help them."

"I can't say that I quite understand what you're trying to describe, but I take it that it is definitely an anomaly." Kurama lifted a hand and gently grabbed his chin with his thumb and index finger. "Yusuke, would you mind if I came with you tomorrow evening? I would like to see for myself who these people are."

"Yeah, I mean the whole reason why I came here was to ask you anyway."

* * *

Yoh and Mei had come home later in the morning. Both of them carrying a bag full of books. Rin had pulled Yoh aside into the kitchen for a talk.

"I got in contact with the ex spirit detective last night." She paused.

"And?"

"And, I managed to get him to agree to assist us on the assignment. Though there is one complication."

"And what would that be?"

"He had requested to meet you and have him answer his questions regarding us and the assignment. Under the pretense that I was to obtain his help as a last resort I complied."

Yoh crossed his arms and gave Rin a hard stare. "Do you know what kind of position this puts us in? We're in the palm of his hands now. If we give him what he wants and he decides to use it against us it's over."

"Not completely. I have his female partner as leverage, I know where his comrade attends for his education, and I have two others I can hold against him. I just need you and the others to come with me tonight to meet with him. As soon as we can get his cooperation the sooner we can finish this assignment."

"Why do you need the others to come if he only wants to see me?"

"If we're going to be working with him it's only convenient if the others know about it too. I take it that you haven't told either Jin or Shin about the hanyou?"

"If I told either of them they would back out of the assignment."

"Once they meet him they will have no choice. It'll force their hand into staying unless they want all of us killed."

Yoh sighed. There wasn't anything else he could say at this point. He saw it coming but didn't expect it to happen this way. "We'll bring Mei too even though she isn't officially on this assignment, she will be around us for the duration of it." Rin tapped her fingers on the table beside her. She was hesitant about agreeing to have Mei come along, but he was right. She was going to be around and it would just be better to bring her along and get it over with. She didn't want to have to answer any more questions later should Yusuke find out they had an unofficial fifth member.

"Fine with me. Call Shin and Jin and have them meet us here at 8:00. We head out at 9:00."

* * *

It was almost a quarter till ten and Yusuke was closing in on the warehouse with Kurama following in the shadows. Just as the roof of the warehouse began to peak from the trees Kurama stopped in his tracks.

"Yusuke, this is the same warehou-"

"Yeah, I know. Big fuckin' coincidence, right?" said Yusuke as he continued to walk in the direction of the building. The two arrived on the edge of the forest. "Alright, I don't want miss shady blowing her cap once she finds out I couldn't keep her secret so I need you to go into stealth mode until I'm done."

"There will be no need to worry about me. Just make sure you are able to get as much out of them as you can." With that Kurama disappeared in an instant.

Yusuke made his way down the narrow strip of walkway to the warehouse. He hate to admit it but he was nervous; of what he didn't know so he stuffed his hands into his pocket and tried to walk as casually as he could. He was feet away from the warehouse and the doors were wide open. He hesitated for a split second seeing nothing but darkness within the four walls. Just as he took one more step forward an incredible force knocked him backwards sending him flying. He landed hard on his back with a loud "Oomph!" Yusuke opened his eyes and his vision doubled. He was seeing two identical women on top of him, if this was any other occasion he would have been enjoying this particular situation. Eventually his eyes came into focus and two women merged into one beautiful, scowling woman who was screaming at him.

"Do you realize what you have done? You've put us all at risk! I gave you specific direc-" Yusuke ignored the angry woman on top of him and started to wonder how he came to be in this position in the first place. First, he was walking into the warehouse and next he was on the floor. He tuned out the woman on top of him and found himself distracted. He shifted his half dazed and confused eyes to hers; a deep sea of blue like the depths of the ocean. It was endless, bottomless, and almost empty. "You've ruined everything!"

Yusuke snapped back to reality. He crinkled his nose in a sneer about to refute until she cut him off. "I know he's here! Where is he?"

"Wait, you're the girl from last night? And w-who are you talking about?" he asked a bit confused. _This was what was behind that mask the whole time? Damn!_

"Your demon friend," She spat that last word out like it was something vile on her tongue. "I know he's here."

"He's- Wait a second. How do you know he's a demon?" Yusuke asked, this time raising his head off the ground to get a better look at the woman.

She snorted and gave him a wild, half-crazed look. "What? Do you think I'm stupid? I can almost smell him." The woman leaned down closer to his face. Yusuke gulped at how close she was and laid his head back on the ground.

"Listen, you can trust him. He won't go telling anyone else your secret. I promise!"

"What good are your promises if you can't even keep the first one?" She roared into his ear. "Now you leave me with no choice but to-ugh!"

Rin was instantly thrown off Yusuke. A force so strong and fast slammed into her side sending her quite a ways flying a few feet before she rolled onto the ground to a stop. Rin tried to get up, but her head was swirling and her side ached. She only managed to lift her head from the ground when another force knocked right into her sending both into the wall of the next warehouse across the field.

Rin's vision was spotted. She was in a haze and couldn't make sense of what was happening. Blinking a few times to focus her eyes she saw black, but not the unconscious black she knew all too well. In front of her was the fluttering of black fabric. She tried to move away from the wall but found that her shoulders were immobile because a rock hard arm was pressed across the area below her collar bone. A second later she realized something cold pressed up against her neck.

After finally getting her bearings Rin looked up at her attacker and found a pair of hard crimson eyes looking back. She flinched in the slightest bit from the intense glare she was subjugated to. She had never seen anything like it.

"Rin!"

Rin snapped from her daze at the voice of Yoh calling for her. Her eyes flicked down to see a katana had been resting against her neck. She noticed that he had left her arms free, but because of the katana she didn't want to risk any sudden movements. Instead, Rin concentrated a bit of energy and sent a wave of electricity through her body. As it coursed upwards towards her neck it made contact with the katana. Acting as a conductor, streaks of electricity traveled down the length of the blade through the hilt, making contact with the owner's hand. The zaps of white blue wrapped around his right arm instantly shocking him.

Not expecting the shock the man immediately flashed backwards away from Rin essentially letting her go. She took the opportunity to lunge forward with her right fist, covered in sparks of electricity. The man flashed away in a blur right before she could make contact. Instinctively, Rin kicked back with her right leg and hit her mark. The man reappeared behind her and blocked the kick with his forearm, but that was the mistake she was hoping he would make. Rin sent a wave of electricity to her foot with double the energy than the first one.

The electricity ran through the man's body at the contact. His body stiffened for a second from the shock. He felt his arm paralyze from the amount of electricity that coursed through it and cursed under his breath. He was about to flash away when suddenly he saw a fist coming his way from the corner of his eye. He grabbed her fist with his left hand, but regretted it immediately as another wave of electricity shot its way through his body.

He was on the defensive now blocking and dodging her kicks and punches. Each time his body made contact with hers he would get electrocuted. He could feel his arms start to stiffen from all the electricity making its rounds through his limbs. It was making his body lag.

Deciding he had had enough he took the risk of grabbing her left wrist with his left hand and jerked it towards him making her spin around until her back faced him. He flinched as he felt her send a strong pulse of electricity to his hand but kept his grip strong as he took his right hand and grabbed hers. With both of her arms being pulled behind her he took his foot and placed it against her back right in between her shoulder blades.

With their bodies making a complete circle he felt her send wave after wave of electricity through his left arm making it pass through his core and exit through the other arm. He flexed his leg and made to push against her back to dislocate her arms, but before he could get the first arm free of its socket a hand had gently made its way to lie against his chest. He looked up the offending hand and followed its arm to the owner. A man with black hair and an expressionless face stood next to him.

With grunt, Shin released an explosive amount of air from his palm and sent the crimson eyed man back. Fortunately, the man had released Rin's arms and did not end up taking her with him. The man skidded back a few yards on his feet. He came to a stop and crouched to lunge forward, but a voiced halted him in his tracks.

"Enough, Hiei!"

The all too familiar sound of the fox grated his ears. The man named Hiei relaxed and stood up. He looked in the direction of where the voice came from and sure enough there stood Kurama next to Yusuke.

"We did not come this way to fight. As a matter of fact, I don't remember you being involved in this at all. What are you doing here?" asked Kurama. He sent a stern gaze to Hiei.

"Hn. Business, what else?"Hiei crossed his arms across his chest.

"And what sort of business do you have with her might I ask?"

Hiei side glanced at the woman and saw the black haired man walk her back towards the warehouse. "I have my reasons."

Kurama let go of a big sigh. This turned out a lot more complicated than it was intended. He looked over to Yusuke and saw that he looked just as frustrated.

"How the hell did this happen?" Yusuke said as he slapped his hand against his forehead. "Now what do I do?"

"You can start by introducing us." Kurama gestured to the group that had made their way outside of the warehouse to watch the brief fight between Hiei and the woman.

"Right," Yusuke walked up to the group until he had grabbed their attention. "Hey, you there," He pointed at Rin. "I came like you said, but what the fuck was that?"

"You broke our agreement." said Rin as she dusted her coat.

"Yeah, but that doesn't give you the okay to tackle me into the dirt!"

"You compromi-" Yoh held up his arm across Rin to silence her, and she did.

"That is enough, Rin. We came here to explain as you promised. Let us get on with it." Yoh Looked at Yusuke with a stoic face. "Would you like to retreat into the warehouse so that we may avoid wandering eyes?"

"No one is around for miles. We're fine here." barked Hiei still in the same spot as before.

"Very well. I was told you had questions. I am here to answer them, but per the agreement you made with my colleague I need you to confirm with me that you still intend to assist us."

"Yeah, yeah. I said I would help so I'll help. Jeez, can we just get on with it?" Yusuke was getting impatient. Since he saw what the woman was capable of she had caught his curiosity and he wanted to know what exactly she was.

"Let's start off with the basics. My name is Yoh, this Shin, Mei, Jin and Rin whom you have met already." Yoh gestured to each one respectively.

"And I'm Yusuke, Kurama, and the hot head over there is Hiei." Hiei sent Yusuke a glare at the mention of his name, a shiver ran down his back. "So who or what," Yusuke looked at Rin, "are you guys?"

"We are contractors." Yoh answered.

"Would you please explain in further detail what contractors are? This is the first any of us have heard of your… kind." Kurama said stepping in.

"Before I get to explaining I need to make clear of some things. For the sake of our safety I need you and your friend over there to not absolutely not, reveal any of this outside this circle. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly, but what for?"

"If any of this reaches our employer or your spirit ruler then us including the rest of our race is dead."

Kurama's brow twitched at the mention of Koenma, though it was somewhat indirect. How did these people know about Reikai? "Alright, you have our word and unlike last time I'll make sure Yusuke keep his this time."

"Don't you dare speak for me, fox." Hiei growled. His eyes sent a death glare in Kurama's direction and his arms were no longer crossed, but at his sides clenching his fists.

"Hiei, I must ask for your cooperation in this one. It seems our friend has gotten himself into a bit of a situation and we need to hear them out before we can fix the problem."

"Why do I need to cooperate when this has nothing to do with me?"

"If you would agree to Yoh's terms then I would be more than willing to hear what it is you want from Me." said Rin. She was looking at Hiei with a face that almost looked like she was bored.

"Hn," was all he said before crossing his arms again and turning his head to the side.

"Great, now that that's settled, please continue. But perhaps we should move this inside after all. Since this seems to be a delicate topic."

Yoh and the others turned around to go back into the warehouse. Yusuke hesitated. He was starting to feel more nervous about what he had gotten himself into and now he had gotten Kurama, and somehow Hiei, involved. Kurama walked passed him into the warehouse without looking back to see if he followed. Yusuke gulped and walked in after him.

After a moment of watching everyone retreat into the all too familiar building, Hiei started to make his way inside. He did not like where this was going. He had only attacked the girl because Yusuke had provided an opportunity for him to do so. He was telling the truth when he told Kurama that he had come for business.

Just yesterday, someone had made their way through a portal connecting the Ningenkai to Makai and it wasn't pertaining to Yusuke who had made the trip that day. Someone had snuck through the portal after Yusuke, but whether they were entering or leaving the Makai was unknown.

Upon discovering the mysterious form of energy that had lingered in the portal Hiei had made his way to the Ningenkai to seek an explanation from Yusuke as it was his portal. When he found him pinned to the ground by a woman that matched the same energy waves as the one he found in the portal he had attacked her without a second thought. The woman with the expressionless face had an odd presence to her and he had felt it during their little spar.

Hiei walked into the warehouse as the man named Yoh slid the doors shut behind him.

He was going to find out who this woman was and judge for himself whether she had anything to do with crossing that portal. Regardless if she didn't, he would figure out who did.

* * *

I am so relieved that I could finally introduce our pa'aek (male lead (in thai)), Hiei.

I suck terribly at fight scenes so I'm hoping after this horrible one I'll only get better.

Thanks again for reading and special thanks to lilnightmare17 for the review! You keep me going xD

In the next chapter we find out the full scope about our contractors as they reveal not only their identity but also their objective to our little group of demons.


	10. Chapter 10

Long awaited update! Just a quick little warning that this one is all dialogue and not much action but for good reason! It will explain everything regarding background info and finally, finally, FINALLY set the story into motion. And I mean it this time, bahaha. So please just bear one more chapter with me here and I promise definitely more action coming up. Thanks!

 **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker Than BLACK, or any of it's characters. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

Everyone had settled in the warehouse. Some took seats on the various crates and others remained standing. Yoh stood in the middle with Kurama not too far in front of him. Yusuke had sat down on a crate next to the exit and Hiei stood leaning against the wall where the light from the single ceiling lamp couldn't reach him.

"I believe you were about to explain in further detail on who exactly you people are." Kurama started.

"Yes, as I said before we are contractors. Essentially, our bodies are that of a human with the exception that we do not have souls."

"No souls? Wait, how is that possible? Doesn't that make you like a zombie or something?" Yusuke had interrupted. He was leaning back on his hands on top of the crate but had leaned forward now that they had caught his interest.

"No. Our bodies are alive and fully functional. It's just that after we die, be that naturally or not, there is no soul that exists for your Reikai to escort us in the afterlife if you will. We simply cease to exist."

"Why is it that I've never heard of you guys before?" Yusuke asked.

"That's quite the explanation you're asking for."

"Just answer the damn question." Yusuke shot over his best stink eye. Yoh sighed. This was going to be a long night he could tell.

"Before I go into that let me give you a bit of a background story, and mind you that the only reason I'm telling you this is because we need your assistance."

"Go on." Kurama had walked over next to Yusuke and took a seat next to him.

"We work for a group called the Syndicate. It's an organiza-"Yoh was interrupted by the noise of a plastic wrap being torn open followed by a loud crack. He didn't have to turn around to know what was going on.

At the pause Yoh had taken, all three men turned to look behind the grey haired man and their eyes first fell on Shin. He had ripped open a bag of chips and was munching away rather ravenously not caring that he was rudely interrupting their conversation. Another loud crack was heard and the three pair of eyes snapped over to the source. They found Rin with her back turned towards the group. She was doing something they couldn't quite see as majority of her body was obscured by the darkness.

"Hey, what the hell..." Yusuke started ask but a muffled grunt came from Rin as another loud crack came from her direction.

"Her bones are breaking." Kurama's eyes narrowed as he observed Rin's back.

"Not just breaking, she's breaking them herself." Hiei was easily able to observe what the young woman was doing without having to even look. He could hear her stiff breaths as she pause each time to break one of her bones and the muffled grunts that followed.

"What? Why in the hell would she do that?" Yusuke got up from his crate and walked towards Rin, but Yoh had stopped him before he could get any closer.

Yoh turned his head to side enough to see Rin behind him. "Rin, please." She grunted as her hands dropped to her side. Yusuke's eyes flashed to her hands noticing that she had removed her gloves, but it was the sight of the three fingers on her left that had him widening his eyes.

The proximal phalanx of her pinky, ring, and middle finger were broken, all three were bent backwards in a forty-five degree angle. Yusuke gasped and pointed to her hands. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you hurt yourself like that?"

Rin ignored the man and whispered Mei's name as she walked towards the door. Mei hopped down from her crate and followed closely behind her. Just as Rin lifted her right hand to open the door, the same black blur that had attacked her earlier appeared before her to block her path.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" Hiei had his arms crossed; looking down at the woman whose height only came up to his eye level.

"Outside so that I won't interrupt," Rin stepped to the side to walk around Hiei, but he had done the same, again blocking her path.

"I don't think so." Rin looked up at Hiei unfazed. If she was annoyed with him it didn't show. "Yusuke," Hiei spoke not taking his eyes off Rin.

"What?"

"They agreed to answer all of your questions, correct?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Ask him why she is doing this."

"Uh, why is she doing that?" Yusuke asked pointing at Rin.

"It is her payment for using her abilities." Yoh answered without missing a beat.

"You mean all of those sparks that were coming from her body?"

"Lightning, Yusuke." Kurama said. "You contractors are more than just humans without souls. Tell me, what is the price of a soul worth for you people?"

Yoh shifted his gaze from Kurama to Rin whom was looking back at him. He nodded his head and Rin turned around to face Mei. She handed her left hand over and Mei grasped it with both of hers. A soft white glow emitted from their hands. Everyone, including Shin who had finished his bag of chips, watched as the small girl continued hold onto Rin's hand. The light dissipated and when she finally let go the three demons saw that Rin's fingers have all been healed. Rin wiggled and flexed her left hand before slipping her gloves back on.

Mei watched and waited for Rin to finish. When she finally let both hands drop to the side Mei took the opportunity to quickly reach inside Rin's coat and pulled out a dagger. Both Yusuke and Kurama, of which the latter had stood up at some point, got into a defensive stance. Hiei, however, had remained unmoving and just observed as Mei took the dagger and slid it across her left palm without a flinch. A nice stream of blood started to flow from Mei's hand. She quickly took her other hand and cupped the injured one underneath so that the blood wouldn't spill onto the floor. At this point Jin was already making his way towards her with some cloth bandaging in his hands. He came up to Mei and took her hand without asking and started to wrap it up.

"Wipe the blood on the bandage for now. We'll change it as soon as we finish up here." He said softly. Mei did as she was told and wiped her cupped hand on her bandaged one.

"As you just witnessed and probably figured out by now Mei has healing abilities, but must draw blood as payment for using them."

"And Rin's payment for using hers is breaking her own bones." Kurama confirmed resting a finger on his chin, "Interesting."

Yoh silently confirmed Kurama's statement as he watched the two women walk back. "Our kind is kept secret from the masses. We are capable of murdering in cold blood, smothering unnecessary emotions with logic and rationality. Our abilities, however, are gained at the cost of our souls and our humanity – we Contractors are thus named because of our involuntary compulsion to pay the price each time our powers are used, which can range from eating particular foods and completing meaningless tasks, to self-harm and changing our bodies in peculiar ways."

"And Shin over there, I take it that eating a particular food is his compulsory action to pay the price?" Kurama was slowing drinking everything in.

"No, just the act of eating is his price. Anything is fine as long as he can eat it."

"And yours?" Kurama lifted an eyebrow in question, "What is your ability and what does it require of you to 'pay the price'?"

Yoh went silent for a few seconds. He was debating if he was revealing too much and they haven't even asked about their assignment yet.

"Answer the question." Hiei barked.

"I am able to see glimpses of the near future. I pay my price by tying knots."

Hiei was heard scoffing as he made his way back to the dark corner. Kurama ignored him and continued with his barrage of questions, "And the other two?"

Yoh risked a glance at the two men behind him. Both gave him a glare but made no move to stop him. Yoh sighed, he was going to have to explain everything to them especially now that they knew they were dealing with demons. "Shin has the ability to control the air around him and Jin has the mental capability to access every bit of information in the world."

Now this had stumped the trio. "What? How does that work?" Yusuke asked. "Lightning, healing, and air I get, but how is he any different from be a brainiac? Access information? Like hacking?"

"I have a separate entity that can traverse any digital network, online security, and even the world-wide web. There is no piece of digital data that can escape me." Jin used his middle finger to lift his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose. "Now that we are done with the extensive introductions, weren't you going to ask us about this assignment? If possible, I'd like to get this moving as I also have questions for our Leader here." He looked at Yoh sending him a look that demanded an explanation.

"Not quite. Not only can your kind's abilities range from telepathic, to elemental powers, but you're also capable of supernatural feats such as his. I'll take that as what separates you from us." Kurama had now completely taken over asking the questions. Yusuke didn't mind at all and Hiei seemed to be fine with it as well. He was learning all he needed anyway without having to do the work himself. "So tell us of this assignment you all are working on and why it is that you require the assistance of my colleague here."

Only a couple of hours had passed since the interrogation started, but Rin felt like they were going at it all night. Yoh had just finished filling in the trio about their assignment regarding Shizen.

Kurama's eyebrows furrowed, "So this Shizen that you are after, you think him to be a demon?"

"Yes." was Yoh's answer.

"And because of that you decided the best approach was to enlist the help of a hanyou such as Yusuke because your kind has been forbidden to make any sort of contact with demons?"

"Correct."

"But Yusuke is still a demon."

"He is also part human."

"So you thought it would easy to appeal to his human half."

"Yes but mainly because Yusuke serves as the perfect median. It is too risky for us to go after a demon like Shizen, of which I am positive that he is one. Contractors such as us are no match against him. I predict once we find him he won't come back with us willingly or silently. Thus, causing a disturbance that may attract the attention of Reikai. When they find out that we have broken the mutual agreement then that Spirit King of yours will seek to eliminate every last one us contractors till none of us is left. And should the Syndicate decide to retaliate then a war will be on our hands and thousands of innocent human beings will be lost. Yusuke's human half will allow us to work through him without having to actually deal with Shizen ourselves."

"You plan to use Yusuke as a cover up should Shizen ever attract the attention of Reikai and if this Syndicate of yours finds out that you have in been contact with any sort of demon you plan to use his human half as an excuse. And since your Syndicate doesn't want to evoke the wrath of Reikai they would probably just let it pass since Yusuke isn't a full demon anyway. But my question is this, how can you be so sure that this Shizen is a demon?"

This had grabbed everyone's attention especially Rin's. She had always wondered why Yoh was so adamant on the idea that Shizen was a demon. There was never proof that he was, but everything regarding how they have been going about on assignment was based on the theory that they were after a demon. Rin and the others waited patiently to hear the explanation that would answer the question everyone was waiting to hear.

"I had a premonition of him before we were even given the assignment."

"And you didn't even bother to mention it before they gave it to us?" Shin was on his feet, his whole body tense from the rising buildup of anger. "Do you realize what you have done?"

"I-"Yoh made to explain, but was quickly interrupted by Jin before he even had the chance.

"You've sealed our fates. Regardless if we accomplish this assignment or not, we will be executed, whether by Reikai for breaching the agreement, or by the Syndicate for withholding information and revealing us entirely to them." Jin had his head in his hands now. He was starting to develop a head ache from everything Yoh was revealing. "And you didn't mention it to us before this encounter because you knew we would back out. By bringing all of us to be in the same room as these demons you have forced us to continue to cooperate and to keep our mouths shut if only to prolong the inevitable."

Silence followed. No one dared to utter a word as the tension in the warehouse started to double. Yusuke looked at Kurama to see if he had any idea what was going on. Kurama just shrugged continued to look at the group of contractors silently.

"Tell us, why did you go to such lengths only to eventually bring us to our deaths? Why did you keep this to yourself until now?" Jin wasn't looking at Yoh or anyone for that matter. He just sat, staring at the floor in front of him.

"I can't tell you. At least not until it happens."

"Another one of your premonitions."

"Okay, I've just about had it with the whole execution, war, and innocent lives thing. What the hell are you people talking about? Why would Reikai or your stupid little Syndicate want to kill you off just because you had a conversation with us?" Yusuke's patience was wearing thin. He was almost at the end of the rope with these people. There were too many secrets and he wanted everything out now if he was going to help them. "You have been talking around it since we started. If I am going to let you use me then I want to know everything and I mean everything. No secrets, no half-assed answers, everything! Now tell me why Reikai or your Syndicate would want to kill your asses. And if I catch you or any of you trying to smart mouth me, or beat around the damn bush then I'll blow this place up!" Yusuke had yelled that last bit and everyone besides Kurama and Hiei flinched at his tone.

Yoh had been wasting time trying to expose as little as possible hoping that his answers would satisfy the ex-detective. But Jin was right, he was only delaying the inevitable. No amount of caution could reverse time and take back what had already been done so the best option was to tell everything in order for Yusuke to cooperate. "You'll want to take a seat for this," he said as he walked over to a crate next to Mei and sat himself down, the others following suit.

"A few centuries ago in North America there was a small mass of people with abilities very similar to ours. These people were an anomaly during this time period and anything outside the norm was taken into great offense. In order to survive these people suppressed their powers and only used them in dire situations. That changed, however, when one particular one was born with the gift of growth.

A young girl whose name has been lost throughout the years was born into a poor family. They farmed for a living but their crops never amounted to much, receiving very little for whatever they could produce. Then there was one year when a natural disaster made its way into the town. It completely ruined the soil on the land ridding the family their only chance of survival. It was in this distress that awoken the girl's abilities. No one really knows the details, but one day she was seen doubled over in a field of her family's crops. Everything they had ever tried had grown, there in full bloom.

Her family took advantage of their daughter's gift more than they should have. After their fourth harvest someone had witnessed the girl use her abilities to grow another set of crops. Word got out eventually and the town's people came took her." Yoh looked up from the ground and looked at Kurama specifically. He figured the red head was the intelligent one of the group.

"Do you know of the Salem Witch Trials?"

"Yes, I have." The words weighed heavy on Kurama's tongue. He was starting to understand the connection the question implied.

"Wait, a witch trial?" Yusuke asked from his seat.

"Salem witch trials, Yusuke. It was a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in the late 1600's. Many of which were women."

"She was executed shortly after her trial of which I've been told didn't even last a good part of the day. There were too many people that played witness, majority of them were ones that purchased their crops." Yoh paused to see if they had more questions before he continued. "When one of your reapers came to retrieve her soul they found nothing. So she went back and was told to just let it pass. After all, what was one soul?

Not too long after the girl's death a group of people were also accused of witch craft. A series of trials followed of which resulted in twenty deaths; more than half of them were people with abilities like us. This time, when Reikai sent in their reapers to fetch the souls of the convicted they found that the soul count didn't match up with the number of bodies.

No one knew where their souls could have gone, little did they know that those bodies never had them to begin with. Reikai was in a mess from what I've heard. This was the first time anything like this had happen. There weren't any precautions, set procedures, or known consequences; afraid that word would get out about Enma's lack of control over the situation at hand he issued a man hunt. His men, if you could call them that, disguised themselves amongst the town folk and were a great influence and reason why many more were accused and executed for their 'witchcraft'."

"Who would have thought that such a prominent time of history had something to with your kind and Reikai." Kurama commented. "It seems Koenma has been keeping a lot more from us than he has lead on."

"It's not the first time that's for sure." Yusuke snorted in the background obviously not too happy about how in the dark he was in yet again and from Koenma of all persons.

"More of us were born into this world eventually. No one knows how or where we came to be. There isn't a specific gene that allows a human to give birth to a contractor. It just suddenly happened."

"You mean no alien space ship decided to land and release their sperm spawn so that they could slowly take over the world?" Yusuke paused awaiting reactions towards his crack of a joke but no one responded; Hiei rolled his eyes.

"Yusuke, I highly doubt now is the time for humor." Kurama looked at Yusuke with a bit of concerned look.

Yusuke rubbed the back of his neck to hide his embarrassment and mumbled, "Right, my bad." Kurama looked back to Yoh and gestured with his hand for him to continue.

"Normal, human families that gave birth to contractors would usually take it upon themselves to rid of the infant, and contractors that gave birth to normal beings would just surrender them to society or leave them abandoned; afraid that once they grew up they would come to realize who their parents were and turn against them."

"You mean there's no telling what or how a contractor is born? It is simply just?" asked Kurama. He was quite perplexed at this point.

"Correct. It's completely random. We've done the research and nothing abnormal about it showed up."

"Wait a second. If you guys are supposed to be a secret society then what happens to the normal people that give birth to you? Wouldn't that expose your race?" Yusuke was starting to grasp the words spilling from Yoh's mouth. These people were like a whole 'nother world that was hidden from them till now; like how Reikai and the Maikai were before he had died the first time.

"There are thousands of us here just in Japan and hundreds of thousands all over the world. We learn to blend into society and mold ourselves to fit this world's norms. We have people in places you wouldn't even think that take care of situations like that."

"What do you mean by 'take care'? Yusuke grounded out the last couple words. He was worried about how that sounded.

"If you're thinking if we do any kind of bodily harm then you're incorrect. The parents are notified of the child and what they are and are given choices. They can either keep the child and remain quiet about it all the while being compensated, or they can give it up and we erase their minds of the events and replace them with different memories."

"You people are capable of that?" Kurama interrupted.

"Yes, as I have mentioned before, contractors have abilities that range all over the place. There's no limit or cap to what kind of abilities we are capable of."

"What of the ningens that fail to follow your orders when they agree to keep the child?" Hiei spoke from his dark little corner.

"Damage control. We seek them out and take the child away from them, erase their memories, and clean up whatever messes that may have concurred in the meantime. It happens more often than one would think."

"You guys have it all planned out don't you." said Yusuke. It came more as a statement than a question. "No wonder you've been able to keep under wraps for so long."

"With the conditions we were given we had no choice."

"What conditions, may I ask? And from whom?" This was what Kurama had been waiting for. This next explanation would be the meaning behind all of their sneaky tactics.

"The Reikai ruler saw us as a threat. When they had come to realize that we had no associations with demons and that they were essentially killing off humans they ceased their activity with us and decided to meet with the Syndicate's council members. The Reikai basically has no holds on us. We are not tied to the consequences that come after death. It gives us an excuse to live whatever kind of life we wish without the fear of oblivion. So the ruler sought to take that very freedom away from us." Yoh paused and interlaced his fingers with both hands resting on his lap. He looked down at them and began to repeat what every contractor knew.

"A deal was made that if the Syndicate could keep its control over its people and keep us from exploiting our kind to the public then we would be spared from complete obliteration. Because we are the perfect human weapon we mustn't reveal ourselves to the ones that desire us. And because demons naturally have such raw instincts when it comes to dominance that included your race as well. The Reikai ruler didn't want problems stemming with us to deal with it because he simply just can't. There are no souls for him to punish. The only resort would be to kill and if word got around that the Reikai ruler was killing off massive amounts of humans then it wouldn't look too good, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't." Kurama said under his breath. It was almost unbelievable that a secret this big had been kept from him. He was as well known, notorious thief for kami's sake!

"Now do you understand why we need to capture this man and why we need your help, ex-detective? It is imperative that we do this without the knowledge of our superiors as well as yours."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about. I sure as hell don't have any superiors and if ya asking me, I'm pretty pissed off, so count me in."

"And as for you two, I need some sort of assurance that you won't go revealing to anyone what I just told you. You are demons and I cannot just erase your memories."

"You have my word. In fact, I'll even assist Yusuke in whatever way should he need it. Hiei?" Kurama turned around to look at the fire demon behind him. Hiei's eyes were seen glaring back.

Hiei had only intended to take the girl and question her regarding the trespass, but what he found was much, much more interesting. Perhaps working with these people and discovering what they were, how they worked, and what other abilities they were capable of could prove extremely useful in the future. "Give me the girl and you won't hear anything from me."

"What? What do you want her for?" Yusuke half-yelled at the demon.

"You forget that I have obligations to attend to and right now that involves her and quite possibly you. If not for your negligence and lack of observation this wouldn't be a problem."

"Why her? What did she do? And what the hell did I do? Actually, now that we're on the topic you never did say why you ended up here anyways. What gives?"

"I told you, business."

"Yeah yeah we get that, but what kind of business? I'm associated with these people now, if you got something to say best say it now so we just deal with everything right here right now."

Hiei gritted his teeth. He was not in the mood to explain himself, but since Yusuke was so persistent... "Fine," he said as he got off the wall and made his way into the dim lighting. "I'm here because someone used your portal unauthorized. Whether they came here or went to the Maikai is unknown. I had only intended to question you regarding it, but that's when I found her following you and your ningen around." Hiei sent a glare in Rin's direction whom was still minding her own business on the crate. Everyone turned to look at her, waiting for an answer.

Rin looked up and made eye contact, her dark blue sapphires meeting his crimson orbs. "In regards to your portal I've done no such thing."

"You're lying. That portal was reeking with that sorry excuse of energy you got wrapped around your body. You're the only one I've encountered with the same pattern. I noticed it earlier whenever you attacked me with that... ability of yours."

"Hold that thought! I've been wondering about this. What's up with your guys' energies? It's not something I've ever felt before." Yusuke interrupted. His curiosity getting the best of him. Hiei glowered at Yusuke for interrupting him.

"Yusuke's right. Your spirit energies are not that of what I am familiar with. It's unique... As if it has a shape of its own. Do all of you have the same pattern of spirit energy? I am unable to measure it right now except for Rin's."

"That I can't answer because I don't know. We contractors don't worry about spiritual energies. Our abilities don't derive from it. As long as we pay our price our powers are limitless." Yoh replied.

"Well, shit. That's pretty damn sweet if you ask me." Huffed Yusuke while smiling.

"Yes it is, but when you take someone like Rin into account there are limits. Whereas someone like Shin could realistically have limitless powers."

"Enough of the small talk. Give me the woman now so I can finish my interrogation and get this over with. The least amount of time I spend in this god forsaken world the better." Hiei snapped.

"Hiei. You are in no position to make requests like that at this time." Kurama said in a voice as if disciplining the fire demon. Hiei's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. He always hated that tone.

"No, it's quite alright. I've said everything I know unless you have other questions?" Yoh got up from his crate and dusted his pants. The others followed suit seeing as they were just about finishing up.

"That will be all... For now. I'm sure more will arise along the way and I trust you would be willing to answer them."

"Of course." Everyone besides the trio of demons and Rin made their way to the sliding door and exited the warehouse. Yoh was the last to walk through the door and just before he stepped out he glanced back at Rin. She looked at him and nodded her head in assurance. Yoh took one more sweeping look at the demons before turning around and leaving.

Hiei walked up to Rin with his arms crossed and his eyes hard. "Now, back to business."

* * *

There it is! All out into the open. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you next time!


	11. Chapter 11

Hello, hello! Another update, yay!

 **I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, Darker Than BLACK, or any of its content or characters. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

Hiei looked down his nose at the woman before him. He didn't like the feel of her energy one bit. Throughout the whole ordeal he made an effort to feel out the other contractors as well but besides Rin he couldn't sense anything coming from them. They just felt like normal human beings with little to almost no spirit energy at all, but how was that possible? If their powers didn't come from a form of energy then where did it come from? Even when he had witnessed the young silver haired girl heal the woman's fingers he did not feel any sort of change coming from her.

Rin looked up at the man that stood before her. She didn't have the time or means to before, but now that they were standing face to face she took a good look at the man named Hiei. He stood just a few inches taller than her; she came up to just around his eye level. He had black spiky hair with a white starburst for bangs that were outlined in a deep blue color. He wore a white scarf and a long black cloak that covered majority of his body. She could tell just from a glance that he was in impeccable shape which was thoroughly confirmed during their little fight earlier.

He was the first demon Rin ever had the opportunity to observe this close. She was slightly amazed at how similar his features were that of a human but at the same time they couldn't be further from it. If any part of his body screamed demon it was definitely his eyes. She had never seen anything like them. They were a deep red, filled with passion, anger, emotions that her sapphire blues were never capable of. She found herself lost for a moment before snapping back to reality. "What is it that you need of me?" She asked still looking into his eyes.

"Explain to me why traces of your energy were left in that portal. What were you doing there?"

"As I told you, I have nothing to do with that portal. After what Yoh has told you what makes you still think I had anything to do with it?"

Hiei took a couple slow steps closer in attempt to intimidate. He was mere inches from her now with his face looming over her, casting a shadow across her stoic face. "You are the only one with that signature aura. Now, before I decide to continue where we left off before we were rudely interrupted by your colleague; what were you doing around that portal?" he gritted out.

Rin continued to look at him with a blank face, unphased by his attempt to frighten her. He was so adamant that it was her, but aside from her apparent spiritual pressure he had no other proof. Perhaps what Yoh had explained to them earlier had disturbed him and he decided that blaming the issue on her was an outlet. Regardless, it didn't matter to Rin what drove the demon to believe she was the culprit; she would entertain him for now.

Rin lifted up her right hand and began to remove her leather glove, sparks of electricity emitted from her fingers as she flexed them. "Well then, let us continue where we left off, shall we?"

Rin saw the corner of Hiei's mouth lift into a smirk. She went for a jab straight for his heart but he had disappeared in a black blur. He reappeared behind her and grabbed the hilt of his sword aiming for the back of her lower neck in attempt to knock her out, but Rin had reached behind her with her now un-gloved left hand and grabbed onto the sheath, sending trails of electricity up the length. Hiei dropped his sword immediately before the sparks of electricity could reach his hand and kicked it to the side. His sword was a perfect conductor and it would be dangerous to him with an opponent like her.

Rin went for another jab, but this time she didn't stop. She threw a fury of punches one after another with no break in between. Hiei blocked them easily but realized the mistake when he blocked the first one. With each punch Rin was sending pulses of electricity to his arms and hands and since Hiei was already in the rhythm of blocking her attacks it would ruin the flow of his defense if he were to attempt to dodge, which could create a spit second opening for her to land a hit.

Hiei noticed her punches were getting faster and his arms were starting to stiff up the electricity coursing through them. He decided to take the risk and dropped his hands. Hiei quickly dodged a flying fist from his right, but at the same time her other fist came in from the left and landed its mark right in the center of his chest. It was then that Hiei paused for a millisecond, his whole body became numb but he broke free almost instantly and flitted away.

"What the hell just happened?" Yusuke asked. He and Kurama stood off to the side watching the two duke it out. Hiei's confrontation with Rin turned violent quickly.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised things turned out this way." Kurama said off to the side.

Yusuke watched as Rin was able to duck an oncoming attack from Hiei as he reappeared to her side and aimed his leg for the back of her head in a round house kick. "How is she able to dodge Hiei's attacks? He's the fastest one out of all of us and even I have trouble keeping up with him sometimes. She's just human."

"I don't think she can. She's predicting his moves and is moving accordingly. She's a smart fighter that she is."

"You mean little miss shady there has been predicting every single one of Hiei's moves so far and she's been right this whole time? Damn." Yusuke continued to watch.

Strategies, estimations, probability, counter measures, all of this and more were running through Rin's mind, each thought going by infractions of a second. Hiei was too fast for Rin's eyes to follow, but judging from their fight earlier she was able to gather as much information as needed to help her predict his moves. It was simple, Hiei couldn't touch her unless risk injury from her electrical shocks. The only way he could get to her was to catch her off guard and in order to do that he would have to rely on his speed and her blind spots. Rin knew all of her weak spots and figured he would try to aim for those first. Whenever he disappeared she would she would be on hyper alert, depending on the stance she is in she would determine which areas of her body were vulnerable and would immediately block the area.

So far she has been right since Hiei had yet to lay a successful one on her. She could tell he was starting to slow down; the electrical shocks were making his body numb.

Hiei appeared in front of her again and this time Rin took the opportunity to slide her right foot across the floor between his legs. The right side of her body was facing his front now. She bent her right arm in a 90 degree angle and used her left hand to grab her right fist. In one fluid motion Rin used the power from her right leg to bring herself towards Hiei and rammed her elbow into his diaphragm using the extra force from her supporting left arm. Upon impact Rin sent one giant wave of electricity through Hiei's chest. While they were still physically touching she redirected the current to his heart in hopes of stopping it for only a few moments to get him to stagger a little longer.

Hiei was stunned. His mind went blank for a moment as the incredible force jolted him out of his train of thought. He found himself paralyzed and was struggling to move his feet to get away. He could feel the woman redirecting the pulses of electricity towards his heart, leaving a hot fiery trail in its wake, but he knew her efforts to stop his heart would be useless because after all, a demon's heart didn't function in the first place. He managed to break through his daze and broke contact with her; the electricity dissipating from his body. Before Rin could make another move he linked his right arm into the crook of her right elbow and spun on his feet swinging her around and released it, throwing her against the wall. The air left her lungs and a definite crack echoed from her head slamming into the concrete. Rin slid down onto her knees bent over and wheezing, trying to get the air back into her lungs.

"Hiei! That was too far!" yelled Yusuke.

"Hn. She's fine." Hiei said as he crossed his arms and looked at the contractor on the floor.

Yusuke made to help her but Kurama rested a hand on his shoulder stopping him. "He's right. Give her a moment." Yusuke grunted and stepped back beside Kurama.

Getting her breath back Rin was slowly breathing trying to clear her head to focus her line of sight. Everything was a blur and she was seeing two sets of her hands on the floor in front of her. She couldn't quite understand why it wasn't working until a drop of blood fell on the floor next to her fingers. Rin shakily rose up a hand and felt the area at the back of her head where she felt a slight throbbing sensation. Bringing it back to her face she found blood at her fingertips. _Oh, that's right,_ she thought, remembering that her head had slammed into the wall. Without another moment Rin collapsed onto the floor and darkness flooded her vision.

"Tch, weak." Hiei was a little upset with how things had turned out. With the contractor unconscious he couldn't interrogate her, meaning his stay in the Ningenkai would be longer.

"Fuck, I can just imagine already the kind of shit they're gonna give me." Yusuke face palmed and shook his head. He wasn't looking forward to explaining to her colleagues what had happened.

"There's no time for that." Kurama said from the ground. He was bent over on a knee and was examining Rin's head. He carefully shifted aside some hair and found a red gash on the scalp. There was a steady flow of blood seeping through and it didn't look like it was going to slow down. "The blood isn't stopping. She needs immediate medical attention."

"What?" Yusuke spun around and squatted next to the red head. He looked at the wound where Kurama had gently laid his hand next to it, keeping the hair from falling back onto it. "Yikes, that's gotta hurt like a bit-"

"Didn't you hear me earlier? I said she's fine. She won't die." Hiei had walked back over to the group with arms crossed.

"Hiei, I don't think you understand how serious her injury is. I heard it when she hit that wall. You might have cracked her skull."

"We need to get her to that healing girl." Yusuke lifted Rin from the floor bridal style and as gently as possible he adjusted her so that her head lay on the side atop his left shoulder.

"They've already left and we don't know where their home is." Kurama called out to Yusuke as he made his way to the exit with the girl in his arms.

"Then a hospital, damn it!"

"I don't think that would be wise. What if we run into one of them in the hospital, we could be putting her and her colleagues in danger."

Yusuke spun around with eyebrows furrowed, obviously angry. "Then what do you suggest we do? I got a bleeding girl in my arms with a cracked skull thanks to this genius!" he gestured to Hiei with his chin.

"I don't see what the big problem is. Just stitch up the wound and be done with it." Hiei said as he glared at the ex-detective.

"You don't understand, Hiei. She is still a human despite her prowess. If she doesn't get checked then that stunt you pulled could have caused brain damage. She would not be fit for you to question her later if that is the case."

Hiei's frustration over this woman had reached a boiling point. Not only would his stay in the Ningenkai be longer, but now the woman risked brain damage, and if his throw was hard enough then she would be unfit to answer his questions about the portal trespass. Hiei took a second to silently chastise himself for not holding back, but immediately dispelled the feeling. The fox was right; they would need to get her healed and quick.

"We have no choice but to bring her to Genkai's. We'll have Yukina take a look at her."

"Are you nuts? Do you know how far that old hag's place is?"

"I do, which is why our fastest runner is going to bring her there." Kurama looked at Hiei expectantly. "You need to take her to Yukina with haste."

Hiei was really dreading how this night had turned out. With a grunt He walked over to Yusuke and took Rin from his arms, "Careful with her head."

Hiei glared at Yusuke, "I know that." As soon as he got her head situated on his shoulder he was gone in the blink of an eye.

"Come, Yusuke. We've no time to waste."

"Right," The two headed out the warehouse and followed Hiei to Genkai's temple though at a slightly slower pace.

* * *

Heat was beating on the skin of her eyelids. Rin cracked an eye open and winced at the brightness of the sun's rays beaming through the rice paper. She blinked away the sleepiness from her eyes before starting to get up but found that she had an incredible headache. Rin reached to the back of her head where she felt the pounding of her headache. Everything felt fine so she gently pressed onto the area and winced, it was tender. Just then, memories of last night flooded Rin's mind. She remembered how she got her injury but wasn't sure what had happened after that. After she had fell unconscious the demons must have brought her somewhere for medical attention, but where?

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone slid the door to her room open. Rin didn't bother to move her head to see who it was as she was more concerned about the injury on her head. "Oh, you're awake." a light voiced fluttered into the room accompanied by the shuffling of feet. Rin looked to the side and using her peripheral vision she saw a young mint haired girl in a yukata making her way towards the futon and knelt down. "I came to check on your injury. Would it be okay if I took a look?" she asked. Rin took a moment to look at her and was undecided if she trusted her enough to face her back towards her. She seemed innocent enough and figured she must have been her care taker since she was the one checking up on her.

Rin didn't answer her and instead she carefully turned onto her side so her back faced the girl, exposing the back of her head. She lied still and let the girl move her hair to side so she could get a better look. After a minute or two she heard her sigh in what sounded like relief. "It looks like it's healing up just fine. Thank goodness." The girl's hand left Rin's hair and she felt the long black strands fall back onto the futon. "When you came to us last night I was afraid that there might be some permanent damage. You were in quite the condition, but alas that doesn't seem the case."

Rin turned onto her back and looked at the girl once more with a raised brow, "Permanent damage?"

"Yes, not only did skin on your scalp split, but your skull was cracked, albeit just a few fractures. I was easily able to heal all of it, though there isn't much I can do about the pain, I'm sorry." Her face turned sullen. Rin looked away and opted to look at the ceiling. "My name is Yukina."

"Rin", she replied not bothering to make eye contact.

"It's nice to meet you, Rin. I'm glad to see that you're okay."

An awkward silence followed as Yukina remained seated next to Rin. She didn't mind it though because with the headache that was slowly starting to develop into a serious migraine she didn't feel up to another conversation despite all the questions roaming around her mind. Rin sighed inwardly when she knew Yoh would be asking for an explanation. She would need to make her way to them, but was in no condition to do any sort of traveling. Speaking of which, where was she anyways? Was she still in Tokyo? She couldn't hear any of the bustling noises of the city so had concluded that she was brought to some remote country side.

Footsteps were heard, breaking Rin from her thoughts. The two women looked up at the rice paper walls and saw a silhouette stop right in the middle. From the shape of his hair Rin already knew who.

Hiei slid the door open from the porch. He had just finished his morning training and came back looking for Yukina only to find her conveniently in the same room as his suspect. He looked down at the ice maiden kneeling beside the woman. Both were staring back up at him but with different faces; Yukina had a smile per usual, one that always managed to melt a bit of the ice surrounding his heart, and the other with a blank face…. As usual.

"Hiei, are you finished with training already?"

Hiei looked away, "Hn."

"Good, I'll go prepare some tea while you keep Rin company. She has just woken up and I imagine she has plenty of questions." Yukina looked back down on to the woman and placed a gentle hand on her blanket covered shoulder. "I'll be right back. Feel free to ask Hiei any questions that you may have in the mean time." Hiei's eyes went wide. He did not want to be left alone in the room with the woman, at least not now. He reached out a hand and was about to voice for Yukina to stop but she was already out the door.

He stood there with his hand in the air for a second before placing it back at his side. He looked at Rin again who, this time, was staring at the ceiling. He watched her and tried to read her face, to see if she was feeling any kind of distress or fear about waking up in a totally unfamiliar environment, but could not find any sort of telling on her face. She had a true poker face, and it was the best one he had seen. The interrogation wasn't going to be a walk in the park he could tell.

"If you're going to ask me any questions please do so now. I'd like to rest off this migraine as soon as possible so I can get back to my colleagues."

"Hn, who said anything about letting you go back? I got you right where I want you and I plan to suck out all of those secrets you are obviously hiding."

"As far as secrets go, I believe Yoh has done a pretty thorough job with telling you all of that. And if you're implying that I am keeping secrets about my apparent whereabouts with that portal of yours then I am sorry to disappoint you, yet again, that I have none." Rin turned her head ever so slightly to look at Hiei who was still standing by the door. "You have the wrong person."

There was that sass again. Hiei hated the way the woman smart mouthed him and he hated wasting time and the woman before him was doing exactly that.

In flash, Hiei was on one knee next to the futon with his right hand cupping the back of her neck to pull her face up to his as he noticed that she didn't have a shirt on to hold onto its collar. The blanket fell from her chest to her lap, revealing her black sports bra but he didn't notice at all because at that moment he could only focus on her eyes.

He heard her gasp at the sudden movement and her brow furrowed probably from the pain from the back of her head or from his grip on neck, whichever he didn't care. Her long strands of black hair fell from her shoulders and hung behind her like a waterfall. With her hair out of the way her shoulders, neck, and collar bone were fully exposed, revealing pale, supple skin which contrasted drastically with her dark mane. Despite those features that weren't entirely unpleasing to the eye Hiei couldn't find it in him to avert his gaze from her eyes. What was it about these empty, bottomless pits of blue that made him want to keep looking; as if there was actually something there waiting to be discovered. It seemed that the longer he looked at them the darker they got, until they were almost black.

Hiei felt a shiver from the woman next to him and it brought him back to his senses. He mentally scolded himself for being distracted from the matter at hand. He crinkled his nose in a sneer, "Given your current state, you are in no position to fight or argue with me. Now, I will ask again. What were you doing in that portal?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Rin didn't even flinch as she just lay limp with her head lolled back and the back of her neck in his hand. Her migraine at this point was too much and she was afraid that using any energy to keep her up would make it worse. "You may ask as many times as you want and my answer will still be the same. I have absolutely nothing to do with that damn portal. So what if the energy in that portal was the same as mine. You have thousands of contractors in this country; it could be anyone of them. You haven't experienced enough of us to make accusations on me." Rin felt the grip on her neck tighten as his nails were starting to dig into her skin. "I don't care how ruthless of a demon you are, I don't care if you beat me to a pulp. You won't get anything out of me because I simple have nothing for you." She lifted the corner of her mouth into a smirk and that smirk had set Hiei off.

He jerked her forward once again bringing her face inches from his. He dug his nails into her neck making sure that they would leave marks after he was done with her. With his hot breath on her face he spoke in a low and threatening tone, "Listen up and listen well, onna. I don't think you know but it is a serious offense to travel to and from the Maikai unauthorized especially while using a portal that is not yours. I can have you executed and if I wish it, by my hands. So I will tell you this, I'll play along in this cat and mouse game you got the ex detective on and if somewhere along the way I catch any sign that you have been lying to me then I will do more than crack your skull."

Rin couldn't help but smile at the demon. How empty his threat was to her because she had absolutely nothing to fear. It was entertaining to watch how adamant he was about convicting her of a crime she had nothing to do with. It almost made her giggle at how pathetic his attempts at making her confess were. This was quite the predicament and she had never imagined she would be in a situation like this; in the hands, or hand, of a demon. Oh how exciting this whole assignment was turning out to be.

Rin lifted her left hand from underneath the covers and brought it to the back of Hiei's neck, using it to pull herself even closer until she could feel his every breath down her face. She looked at him with daring eyes and without breaking eye contact Rin whispered, her lips centimeters from his. "Then by all means, go ahead and try."

* * *

There you have it, chapter 11! Review and let me know of any comments, critique, corrections on my grammar, or questions. I don't bite, I promise!


	12. Chapter 12

Hiei and Rin remained in the same position, un-moving. Hiei was practically seething at the teeth. How dare this woman have the audacity to speak to him this way? Was she not aware of how vulnerable she was right now? If he could have his way he would tear her throat into pieces, let's see if she still feels like smart mouthing him then.

Neither refused to move as both hands began gripping tighter and tighter around each other's necks. Rin's head felt like it was going to explode, but she did not want to give the demon the satisfaction of revealing how weak she was really feeling. Instead, she continued to stare into those red eyes. The chill in her body had left her since being this close to him. His body radiated an abnormal temperature that she found intriguing. She welcomed the heat seeing as she was dressed down to her unmentionables.

The tension in the room was soon interrupted as the door slid open. Yukina stepped one foot in and that was as far as she went. "Hiei, I brought your tea and an extra cup for Ri-" Yukina gasped loudly and her cheeks flushed a deep red at the sight before her. Rin and Hiei were dangerously close and with a hand each wrapped around the other's neck it looked like she was interrupting something very intimate. "Oh my goodness. I am so sorry! Please forgive me!" Yukina gave them the quickest of bows and practically ran away with the tea tray in hand.

"Yukina!" Hiei yelled after her but he was too late yet again. He looked down at the woman whose gaze was fixed on the rice paper door. Things were definitely not going his way lately and he was getting tired of it. It would best to leave it alone for a bit before things got any worse than they already were. He removed his hand from underneath her neck and she would have fallen back down on the pillow but she had grasped his arm with her other hand keeping her body up. Slowly, the hand behind his neck slid to his shoulder and down his right arm as she used him as leverage to gently place her head back on the pillow while her other hand remained on his other arm until she was fully situated.

Rin pulled the covers back up to her shoulders and closed her eyes to sleep some more despite the demon that was still in the room. In hopes that this nap will help ease off the headache she fell asleep almost immediately.

Hiei was suddenly put off with the whole interrogation thing. He got up and left the way he came in deciding to look for the fox and find out what those contractors had in mind next for the ex-detective.

As Hiei made his way through the forest he couldn't shake the sensation of her hand gliding down his arm, leaving a white hot trail in its wake.

* * *

Yoh had woken up just after sunrise. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked over to his right where a half-naked body should lay, but was not there. He got up and looked around the room from the futon and no signs showed that Rin had come home at all. He quickly got up and went straight for Mei's room. Opening up the door, the young maiden was still asleep, surprisingly. Yoh went over to the futon and bent down. He shook her lightly to wake to her up. "Mei, Mei. Wake up."

Mei cracked an eye and looked at Yoh. She got up and stretched her body while releasing a rather large yawn that was quite uncharacteristic of her. "What is it?"

"Rin. She didn't come back last night." Mei stopped mid-stretch and looked at Yoh again, this time fully awake.

"Do you think-"

"I don't know. We need to go see Jin now. Get dressed, we leave as soon as we're done."

The two arrived at Jin's temporary apartment in no time. Turns out he and Shin were rooming together in a similar apartment that was just a twenty minute train ride away from their place.

Shin had opened the door for them, they must have woken him up because his hair was a mess and he could barely open his eyes.

"Where is Jin?"

"In his room." Shin stepped to the side to allow Yoh and Mei to come through. The two waited in the genkan for Shin to shut the door and lead them to Jin's room. Shin took them down the hall and across the living room, which only consisted of a low table and a TV. He led them to the very last door among a set of three. He rapped his knuckles on the door twice and paused. Jin's muffled voice was heard on the other side.

"Come in."

Shin opened the door and stuck his head through, "Yoh and Mei are here to see you." A moment later noises were heard behind the door. Sounds of things being shuffled or put away were heard before the door opened to reveal Jin who, unlike Shin, did not just wake up.

"What is it?" He said leaning on the door frame while adjusting his glasses.

"Rin didn't come back last night."

Jin wasted no time in asking questions. He turned around on his heels and went straight for his desk which was quite big and quite cluttered. It was a two tear desk with metal legs and a glass top. On the top were two large monitors that were currently off. On the bottom was a keyboard and his laptop and underneath the desk was one of Jin's self-made computers. He pressed a button on his laptop top and everything hummed to life. All three screens lit up and illuminated the dark room. Jin took his seat in the center of everything with everyone standing behind him.

With a lifetime of experience under his belt, Jin typed with the speed of twenty fingers. Yoh had done some hacking back in his days, but this was on a whole 'nother level. The coding flying across the screens were incomprehensible. He was basically looking at whole different language.

"The warehouse doesn't have a camera for me to look into, but I can pick up footage from various ones on the streets." Jin looked up and pointed to the top left monitor. There on the screen was a fuzzy image of the street with a silhouette of the warehouse in the background. A group of shadows were seen exiting the building. "That's us leaving. I'll fast forward it." Jin zoomed through the video, stopped, and played it again. Soon after two more shadows walked outside and in a flash they disappeared. Everyone continued to watch the screen for a few seconds more but nothing else happened. Jin went typing on his laptop again and this time a second camera footage pulled up on the top right screen. This camera was facing towards the one they were looking at earlier, with the warehouse on the left side of the screen this time. Jin set the two to play at the same time and paused both when the two figures were seen exiting the building. With a few clicks of the mouse he was able to play them again but this time in slow motion. With frame after frame they were able to see that it was Yusuke and the red headed demon. In the next frame they were blurs of red and blue, but it was clear to them who they were. What wasn't caught in the first camera because they were heading towards it, was caught in the second one with them practically flying across the screen.

The two screens changed to different views, probably from Jin flipping through multiple cameras, but they never stayed any one for longer than a minute. "There's nothing else. They probably went into the woods. We've lost them from here." he went back to the second footage and paused again at the two blurs.

"We saw those two, but when did Rin and the other demon leave the warehouse?" Shin asked.

"I don't know. If they left then I would have caught it like these two. It's quite possible that they were fast enough to avoid the camera, but Rin isn't that fast."

"Perhaps, but that other demon that was with them, the one that attacked Rin." Yoh said as he crossed his arms across his chest, his signature thinking pose.

"That's right. I didn't even see him when he came at her. I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time to help Rin when I did because of his speed." Shin stared at his right hand as he opened it clasped it repeatedly, remembering the night before.

"Could she have gone with him?" asked Yoh.

"I suppose, but why would she want to? She doesn't have any reason to now that we had already established their cooperation."

"Jin," The young silver haired maiden finally spoke up, "what if things had gone confrontational again. She could be injured. Perhaps they took her."

"Which could be why we couldn't catch either of them on any of the footage." Jin turned back around and went typing on his computer.

"Isn't there anything else that may give us a clue to where they might have taken her?" Shin asked.

"No, all we can do is wait for her to come back. Rin can take care of herself. Let's just focus on finding Shizen while we wait for her."

"Actually, now that you mention it I think I found him."

All three heads turned to Jin. "After last night I received an alert from one of my face recognition data bases. Two days ago, most likely around the time Rin had first confronted the hanyou, his face was spotted just outside the prefecture border."

"Pull up the scan." Yoh demanded.

Jin did just as he was told and pulled up a sort of angled bird's eye view of a man with messy black hair and a pair of blank empty eyes to match.

"That's him. I'm sure of it. Where outside the city?"

"Just two miles east of Edogawa." There was a pause. Yoh stood staring at the screen with Shizen's face on it trying to come up with their next move.

"Jin, give me the address of Urameshi's partner." Jin returned to his laptop and typed away. "It looks like we'll need his help sooner rather than later."

* * *

"Takenaga-san, over here!"

Shin spun around and looked at the short haired girl waving an arm to him. He jogged his way through the crowd to reach her.

"Hey, I hope you didn't wait too long. I got caught up in some work, sorry."

"Oh? Like research work for the university?"

"Yeah, just some lab work."

The girl giggled, "No worries. I just got here myself just a few minutes ago. Shall we?"

"Yeah."

Shin had been keeping in contact with Shibata Rin since their first encounter. During their walk to her house, Rin had the courage to ask Shin for his contact information saying that she would like to repay him for saving her. She messaged him the day after asking to meet and here they were at Tokyo station. The place was extremely crowded with it being the start of the weekend and Shin wasn't too fond of big crowds.

"So where are we going?"

"Well, I'm not very creative when it comes to these kinds of things so I was planning on treating you to lunch. You haven't eaten yet have you?" Rin asked coyly while twiddling her thumbs. Shin smiled at her.

"I haven't and now that you mention it I am a little hungry."

"Great, follow me! I know a really good place not too far from here." The two walked side by side as they exited the station and into the busy streets of Tokyo.

The two arrived in front of small burger joint. "I don't know if you know, but this is absolutely the best place for a burger."

"Earth Burger?"

"Yeah, it's supposed to be organic. Fresh veggies and everything!"

"Alright, let's go."

They went inside and made their order. They sat down in a cozy corner away from other customers.

"Um, thanks again and I'm sorry about your arm. How is it by the way?"

"Good as new. As if it never happened." Shin saw her take on a sullen look. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm just glad I was able there in time and that you're safe." Rin blushed a couple shades of red while she looked off to the side, too embarrassed to make any eye contact. "Enough of that. Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

"M-me? What would you like to know?"

"Anything. Hobbies, goals, likes or dislikes, family. Do you have any siblings?"

"Oh, I-I do. I ha-"

"Here's your order. One regular with egg, and one regular and no tomatoes." The young waitress set down the respective plates. "Anything else I can get you two?"

"No, thank you." Shin said. He picked up a napkin and unfolded it, laying it on top his lap.

"Enjoy!" The waitress walked away leaving them to their meals.

"As you were saying?"

"I live with my mother and father and I have... had one brother."

Shin paused in his chewing and quickly swallowed his food. "Oh, um... Sorry, I didn't mean to pry."

"No, it's okay." Rin threw on a quick smile. "It's nothing bad really. Just a tiny fallout with the parents so he decided to move out. I haven't seen him in years. I was young when it happened so it's not like we had a close relationship." Rin shrugged her shoulders. "I can't help but wonder if he's okay though."

"Well, of course. It's only natural for you, as his younger sister, to be concerned about him. Honestly, I find that endearing." Shin glanced at Rin and found the reaction he was looking for. Rin blushed again and stuttered her next sentence.

"U-Uhm, y-you know he went to Todai a-as well." Now he was getting where he wanted to be.

"Really? I wonder if we're the same year then."

"You might be! His name is Shizen. Perhaps you might have bumped into him at some point?"

"Hmm." Shin put down his hamburger and pretended to think for a moment. "To tell you the truth I'm not sure. There are so many students at the university that it's hard to say. Maybe if I saw his face I would recognize him. The name does sound familiar."

The girl placed down her food and clasped her hands together in excitement. "I have some photos at home I can show you. Maybe after lunch we can head there." Rin had just realized what she said. She had invited a boy over and only on their second meeting, but a handsome one none the less. She wanted to take back what she said, afraid that he might be weird out that a girl just invited him over to her home when they barely knew each other. It was too late for her to take back what she said less she made a fool of herself, and so her only other option was to play it smooth and continue with the offer. "T-that is i-if you don't have any other plans." She picked up her burger and took a massive bite, hoping to cover her blushing face.

Shin broke out in a fit of giggles. He saw Rin's face redden even more and laughed even louder.

"What's so funny?" She said puffing her cheeks.

"Nothing," Shin managed to say in between breaths. "You just look adorable when you blush is all." He managed to calm his laughter and went for another bite. "Meeting you was the only thing I had planned today so sure."

The red on Rin's face was starting to spread up to her ears. She must have looked like a tomato by now. "G-great!"

The two arrived at the front gate of the Shibata residence. Rin was going through her bag trying to find her keys. "Will your parents be alright with this?"

"Oh you don't have to worry about them. They're on holiday for the weekend. Ah, here they are!" Rin fished out a small ring of keys and unlocked the gate.

The house was decently sized, a one car garage, small yard, and two floors. Once they were inside Shin got a good look at how spacious it was. The genkan opened up to a small hallway with a coat closet to his left. Straight ahead was the living room that was probably three times the size of his and Jin's. To the right was the kitchen which had no walls separating it from the living room, except for a small island of which a standard dining table stood on the side of the living room.

"You have a beautiful home."

"Thanks. Make yourself comfortable." Rin gestured to the couch while dropping her bag on the floor. "I'll get some tea started and I'll see about those photos."

Shin walked over to the couch and sat down. He looked over to his right out the porch door before glancing down at the stand next to him. There was a picture frame with a photo of what must be Rin and her parents.

"Here's one of our albums. I picked a random one so hopefully there are some in here." Rin sat down on the floor next to Shin's legs and set the blue covered album on the coffee table. It was a fairly huge album with dark leather skin and gold color lining. Rin flipped open to the first page revealing four different photos. "Oh, these must be when I graduated middle school."

Shin looked over her shoulder and saw photos of Rin dressed in a modest, purple yukata. The color rather fitted her pale complexion, he thought. Rin flipped through a few pages, there were photos of her, her parents, and even some of Rin and her friends, but none of Shizen. The tea kettle whistled and both looked up from the album. "Tea's ready. I'll be right back. Keep looking."

Rin got up and walked into the kitchen. Shin brought the album closer to him and started flipping through the pages. He was about half way through when he paused on a page. There was a photo of a boy about the age of a pre-teen. He was standing next to a younger girl, who must have been Rin, in a high school uniform, one that Shin recognized as the one from Iwakura High school. It was hard to tell as this was most likely taken almost a decade ago, but Shin was seeing small similarities to that of Shizen in the photos he was presented at the meeting.

"What'd you find there?" Rin set the tray down on the table and leaned over to look at the album.

"Is this him?" Shin asked as he pointed to the photo.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. That's my brother, Shizen.

Shin's eyes glared into slits at the photo, assessing the possibility that he had found exactly what he was sent to look for. Now what was left is to bring this Yoh and receive further instruction, but before that he had one more thing else left to do. "It's hard to say. This photo was taken quite a while ago?"

"Mm hmm." Rin said as she poured tea and handed the cup to him.

"I don't recognize the face, but that could just be because he's change since high school."

"Oh, I see." Rin brought the cup up to her face to hide her disappointment, but it didn't get away from Shin.

"Didn't you mention that you were studying to get into Todai?"

"Y-yeah, I did, I mean I am."

"You know I could give you a tour of the campus if you'd like. Who knows, maybe we'll run into your brother, that is, if he's still there."

"Really? You mean it?" Rin set her cup down a little too forcefully making it clatter loudly against the table. "Oops! I mean, that is, if you're not busy." Red began to blush the apples of her cheeks in embarrassment.

"Sure, I don't mind. I was thinking I should go back to the lab anyway to double check on some things. Think of it as a head start on your way to college." Shin sent her a quick wink. He saw her face redden even more.

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Having dressed in her clothing, which she found free of blood and folded neatly next to the futon, Rin made her way to the door leading to the porch. She slid it open and stepped outside. A cool breeze washed over her as she looked at her surroundings which consisted of trees, trees, and more trees. _Great._ Rin stepped down from the porch and into the warm rays of the afternoon sun. She looked up and judging from the placement of the sun it must have been around noon.

Rin circled the temple hoping to find an outlet from the dense forest. She was relieved when a cobble stone pathway was found leading from the temple steps to a drop in the distance which probably led to the stairs. Rin took another step towards the exit but a gruff voice stopped her from taking another.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Rin turned around and found herself looking down at an old lady. Despite the wrinkles under her eyes, her faded pink hair, and overall aged appearance she stood firm with a stock straight back and hands clasped behind her back. Rin didn't say a word as she continued to look at her.

"I lend you my healer and this is the thanks I get?"

"Where am I, may I ask?"

"No, you may not."

Rin paused, not expecting the curt reply. "I apologize for intruding and using your resources, but I must get back to my colleagues. If I am correct in assuming you are acquainted with Yusuke Urameshi then I will be obliged to return the favor soon." Rin bowed and waited a good moment before lifting her head back up. The woman didn't say another word and she took that as an end to their conversation. She turned back around and headed for the steps, descending down the temple grounds.

"What do you make of her?" Hiei appeared behind the old lady as soon as the top of Rin's head disappeared from view.

"She's a weird one alright. I don't appreciate unwelcomed guests on my land." She turned to walk inside. "Especially when I don't know _what_ they are."

* * *

Hey guise! Sorry again for the lag in update D: I've been doing some reading myself.

I'm not sure if I like how this chapter turned out so I might make some small changes in the near future. I'll let you know in the next chapter if or when I do.

Thanks for reading!


	13. Chapter 13

One bus ride and three trains later Rin had finally made it back to the apartment. She hadn't realize how far out they had taken her. It was already reaching 3 o'clock. She had already spent the better half of the day trying to get back. She walked up the steps to the apartment and fumbled with the keys when she got to the door. Her headache was coming back in full force and it was blurring her vision. She managed to get the key into the lock, but before she could turn it the knob twisted and opened before her. Mei was the first to greet her right before she collapsed over the threshold.

"Mei, who is at the door?" Jin called as he peaked his head from the kitchen. Mei looked over her shoulder, kneeling down to Rin.

"It's Rin, and I think she's injured." Jin's eyes widened for a slight second before he rushed into the hallway. "I don't see any blood and her fingers look fine."

"Hold the door open for me." Mei got up and moved to the side to hold the door open. Jin moved quickly as he kneeled down and slid his arms underneath Rin to pick her up. He walked over to the bed room door and waited for Mei to come and open it for him. Ever so gently, he laid her down onto the futon and Mei began to remove her coat. "What's wrong with her?" Jin asked. He sat back a ways so Mei could have room to move around the unconscious body.

"I don't see any physical injuries." Mei looked at Rin's now exposed torso and arms. Everything seemed perfectly fine so she started to gently feel down her legs over the fabric of her black cargo pants. As her hand glided down the length of Rin's left leg it gave off a soft white glow. "Her legs are fine."

Rin groaned and without opening her eyes she managed to say with a whisper, "Headache." Mei's hand few to the sides of her head and her hands glowed once again.

"A fracture? Rin, you fractured your skull?" Mei received another groan in response.

"Did they do this to you?" Jin was now kneeling at Mei's side, hunched over Rin to get a good look at her face.

"They healed me." Rin managed to say, but just barely.

"I see that. Let me take away some of that pain." Mei shifted her position so that she was seated right above Rin's head, her hands remaining at the sides. The glow from her hands grew brighter.

"What were you able to assess?" asked Jin.

"A little bit of bleeding from the head and some fractures in her skull, but it's all been healed."

"By who? If they were the ones that injured her then who healed her?"

"You can ask her once I'm finished. I'll be able to make most of the pain subside, enough for her to be fully conscious."

A minute later Rin's eye lids started to flutter open. She made to move her head, but found two small hands keeping her in place.

"I'm almost done." Rin glanced up and saw Mei looming over her.

"Rin." Her eyes flicked over to her left and saw Jin seated on the floor. "What happened?"

She paused before answering, waiting for the last bits of her headache to fade away. Mei released her head and retreated her hands. "I fought with one of them. The one named Hiei."

"He attacked you again?" Jin asked, obviously on edge with the way his hands balled into tight fists.

"No, just rough housing."

"Rin." Jin sat back with his head in his hand and face out of view. Mei got up and left the room and Rin watched her go.

"Where is Yoh?"

He looked up and realization struck his face. "That's right. There have been some new developments since you've been gone." Rin lifted in eyebrow for him to continue. "I picked up on Shizen's recent whereabouts and Yoh is there right now to check things out."

Rin shot up from the futon, eyes wide. "Where? Where is he? You let him go alone?"

"Relax, he's not going to confront him. He'll be back later tonight. If you're up to it you could go meet him there."

"Meet who, where?" Mei came back into the room. She was wiping her hand with a fairly bloody towel.

"She's going to Edogawa to meet Yoh."

"I see. Jin, will you help me wrap my hand?" Jin didn't say anything as he got up and followed Mei out the room.

Rin got up and walked to the closet to swap out her coat for something shorter and more fitting. There was still a slight pounding at the back of her head but it was more annoying than painful. Throwing on the leather jacket she dug into the pocket for a set of keys and found that they were still there. Satisfied, she walked out of the room in straight for the front door. Jin and Mei were in the kitchen but neither said a word as she went out the door.

It's a little over two hours to walk to Edogawa and Rin didn't have the time for that. Taking the train would only be about half an hour, but it was rush hour and the trains would be packed for a while, so Rin opted to go for her other option, her bicycle. Luckily, the storage garage where she kept her larger items wasn't out of the way. A quick bus ride east and she would be ready to go. She had to be quick though. If Shizen came into town a couple days ago there was a high chance that he wouldn't be in the vicinity anymore but if by luck he did stay then Yoh would be in danger.

Rin boarded the bus and sat in the very front. The vehicle was pretty much empty aside from a little old lady and a couple of young boys.

As smart and perceptive as Yoh may be he lacked a bit of skill when it came to physical confrontation. Rin had assessed long before that he was more than capable of defending and getting himself out of situations, but fighting just wasn't his forte. She needed to get to him as quickly as possible.

Just minutes after the drop off, Rin arrived at a small, warn down, gray building. It stood only two floors but stretched wide almost four times its height. Garage doors lined the bottom of the building. She walked over to the side and stopped at one in particular. Using the key in her pocket she unlocked one of the garage doors and lifted it up and locked it in place. Sun light peaked through and casted its rays on the one thing she came for, her delivery bike. It was a simple road bicycle with loop handle bars and a firm, leather bound seat, nothing special. With this Rin could be in Edogawa in just about an hour. She walked the bike outside and closed the garage. She sat on the seat to make herself comfortable and pulled out her phone to call Jin.

"Send me Yoh's location and tell him I'm on my way." She made to hang up but Jin's voice stopped her.

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"Yoh had me contact the hanyou's partner, the one you kidnapped." Jin paused as if waiting to hear her confirm that she remembered. She grunted at the memory. "We got in touch with him through her and... You'll be meeting him there as well."

"What? Why? Is he planning on confronting _Shizen_ on his own?" Rin grounded out the name through gritted teeth.

"I don't know." was her only reply.

"Just tell him I'll be there in an hour and to not make any moves until I arrive." she snapped and flipped the phone shut, ending the conversation.

* * *

Jin jerked his head away from the phone when Rin began to snap in both surprise and then confusion. Mei was laying sprawled out on the floor with a book in hand, but the voice from the other side of the line had caught her attention. Jin slowly shifted his gaze to look at Mei with slightly wider eyes. "Was that Rin?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jin lowered the hand that was holding the phone away from his ear down to his lap. Mei watched the motion, unblinking.

"I see."

Both were a little disturbed by Rin's sudden outburst, but none questioned the other why in fear of unintentionally discovering treacherous grounds.

* * *

Rin sped past stopped cars on the side of the road. There weren't any bike paths leading to Edogawa so she had to settle for riding on the edges of the street. She was already half way there when Jin sent her a message with Yoh's location on it, as well as informing her that the hanyou had just arrived. Rin was finally able to relax just the slightest bit knowing that Yoh was keeping company, just the slightest.

Yoh would be waiting at Edogawa station which was just another fifteen minutes after crossing the Arakawa River. If she picked up her speed at a consistent pace without tiring or slowing down, she could make it within the hour.

The bridge crossing the river was crowded with traffic. _It was a good thing I didn't take the other bike._ Rin thought. Weaving through the cars would have been no trouble for her but in this case, with cars lining the road bumper to bumper, it would have too tight of a squeeze for her other bike. Easily enough, she was able to cross the bridge and continue on her way to the station.

* * *

"Hey, I thought you said she would be here."

"Just give her a few more minutes. She'll be here."

Yusuke sat on a bench just outside Edogawa station. He had only just arrived himself a few minutes ago, but despite the curiosity tickling the back of his mind he couldn't help but not appreciate the abrupt way he was contacted and practically forced to leave the comfort of his home.

Keiko had called his home and Atsuko picked up. What transpired between the two women he will never know because as soon as they hung up Atsuko was kicking him out the door saying to meet Keiko at Edogawa station. To his disappointment it wasn't Keiko that waited for him at the station, but Yoh. He had demanded answers, but Yoh insisted that they wait until Rin arrived for him to fill them in.

"Yeah, well couldn't you have made sure she was here _before_ rudely waking me up? Oh, and I don't appreciate you using Keiko by the way. I'm still pissed about that stunt your shady little friend pulled."

"I actually didn't intend for Rin to be here. She decided to come on her own accord. I only asked for you originally."

"What? Why?"

"Rin tends to be... A little over protective. And to be honest, I'm not in the mood to be smothered today." Yoh scratched the back of his neck as he sat down next to Yusuke.

"I hear that. Keiko's always on my ass especially about these things. Shit, because of that move you pulled she'll probably want answers."

Yoh shot him a hard and serious look. "We agreed you would keep this confidential. It was enough that you got your demon friends into this."

"Hey, don't get your boxers up in a knot. I said she'd want answers, I didn't say I would give them to her."

Yoh loosened up his glare and sighed. "That's fine, then."

"Jeez, you guys are too tense. Loosen up."

"The situation at hand does not allow us to 'loosen up'. As long as Shizen is out there people are in danger."

"Why is he out anyway? If he is so dangerous why don't you guys have him locked up?"

"That information shouldn't be spoken out in the public. We'll move to somewhere more secluded and I'll fill you in there."

"Yeah, whatever." Yusuke leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head, it was a fairly warm and sunny day. "So... What about you and Rin?"

Yoh turned his head to look at Yusuke's, eyebrow raised in curiosity. "What about Rin and me?"

"Well, you two look a little cuddly."

"Cu-cuddly?"

"I guess I'm just wondering if you two are more than, you know, 'colleagues'." Yusuke air-quoted his fingers at colleagues.

Yoh let out an amused chuckle, deep and throaty. "Of course not. What would give you any idea that we are?"

"Well, you did mention that she could be a little over protective of you and you seemed pretty relieved to me when I told you that she was safe. I think you had a bit of crazy eyes when I came off the train."

"I see." was all Yoh said as he looked out into the crowd of people before them. "You'll have to forgive me. You see, Rin is exceptionally skilled in her profession and a valuable asset to our assignment. If anything were to happen to her it would make this much more difficult than it already is."

"What _is_ her profession?"

Yoh gave Yusuke sad smile of sorts. "She is an S class assassin."

This got Yusuke's attention. He sat stock straight and looked at Yoh with a wide eyed glare. "She's a _what_?"

"Don't take it the wrong way. She doesn't go around killing normal civilians. The Syndicate assigns her with clean-up duties. She is sent out to retrieve or execute rogue contractors that would otherwise exploit our existence."

"That's just wrong, killing I mean. I know you guys aren't... normal, but that's no excuse for murder. They're just people."

"It's legal in our society. You forget that our kind doesn't play by your rules. We operate differently. Everyone knows the consequences, but it's up to the ones like us to make sure we enforce them. To remind them of our place in this world that isn't ours."

"Isn't yours? What do you mean? You live on earth just like everyone else."

"You wouldn't call it a home if you had to hide your true self from everyone in the household, would you?"

Yusuke grunted and slouched on the bench again, with his elbows resting on his knees.

"Perhaps this will comfort you: Shizen is out causing disruptions in the community that could result in mass destruction. The Syndicate hires contractors like Rin to prevent these possible outcomes. The lives of few for the lives of many."

Yusuke's face turned grim. He knew that phrase all too well and it didn't settle too well in his stomach. "But why is he any different from the others?"

Yoh didn't respond right away as he made eye contact with a man walking past them. He kept his eyes on him until he disappeared into the crowd. "Not now. There are too many people here."

Yusuke let out a big sigh. "I just can't help but feel like I've gotten myself into a big mess."

"I understand." Yoh could sense the worry and uneasiness in Yusuke's voice. He didn't blame him, he was after all practically forced to help a bunch of strangers against an unknown threat but he couldn't have him getting cold feet. Not when things had barely begun to start. "The four of us, Jin, Shin, Rin, and I were specifically given this assignment because we are masters of our profession with exceptional skill in our abilities. Out of everyone in the Syndicate they chose the four of us, and the four of us together no doubt explains the urgency and importance of this assignment. Shizen is not a force to be reckoned with. I can tell that much from the contractors that are working on this alone." Yoh looked at Yusuke with eyes that demanded his attention. Yusuke silently complied by looking back. "This is serious business. I can't have you getting second thoughts on this. If your conviction is anything like how it was when you worked for _them_ then I know you can pull through."

Yoh combed a hand through his hair, a small habit he had picked up recently. He side glanced at another man passing by. The man's face wore the same expression Yoh knew all too well. That was the second contractor he spotted in the same area in a short span of time. What was going on? Yoh didn't want to wait around and find out. "Let's go find another spot to wait for Rin."

"Huh? Why?" Yusuke looked up in confusion but got up anyway. "Wait, isn't that her?" He pointed a finger in the general direction of the crowd of people in front of them. Sure enough there was Rin riding her bike amidst the throng of people. "She rode her bike here?"

"Rin isn't a fan of crowds. The trains are usually pretty busy this time of the day."

"Oh yeah, you're right."

Yoh walked ahead of him. "Let's meet her and go somewhere a little less lively so we can talk."

Both men began to approach Rin just as she was getting off her bike. She slammed the kickstand down with her foot and marched in their direction. Yoh hesitated in his step when he saw the look on Rin's face. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh? What uh-oh?"

"You'll see."

Rin moved towards them in a brisk walk. Her long black hair billowing in the wind behind her. Completely ignoring the hanyou at his side Rin walked right up to Yoh and stopped so close that she had to crane her neck to look at his face. "You came out here _alone_ knowing the danger he poses?" she said in a sort of a hushed yell.

Yoh lifted up his hands in defense. "I have Yusuke with me. Did Jin not tell you that?"

"Hey, since when were we on a first name basis?"

Rin looked at Yusuke and scowled. "He didn't mention it until I was already on my way." She looked away not making eye contact with either of them out of embarrassment for her sudden outburst.

"It's alright. I'm fine, we're both fine." He gestured over to Yusuke.

"I'm not worried about him. I know he can take care of himself."

"Well, that's quite the hidden insult."

Rin looked up at Yoh again, her scowled disappeared and the blank canvas of a face returned. "You know I didn't mean it that way."

"I was only joking. Let's get out of here now so we can talk."

Rin turned around walked to fetch her bicycle. Yusuke shoved his hands into his pocket and went ahead of Yoh and with a smug look on his face, "Like I said, cuddly."

Yoh rolled his eyes and started walking.

* * *

The trio pulled up to what looked like an office building of which Rin recognized easily. "Don't stop and keep walking. I'll meet you two blocks down and around the corner. Rin, give me your bike." She handed her bicycle to Yoh and he split from the group disappearing behind the double doors.

"Where is he going?" Yusuke asked, clearly confused.

Rin hooked her left arm around the crook of his elbow and tugged him along. Yusuke 'eeped' at the sudden contact but allowed her to lead him. In a hushed voice Rin answered without looking at him. "That building is one of the Syndicate's facilities. It's like a pit stop for contract employees that are traveling due to assignments."

"Pit stop? Are you saying there are buildings like that all over Japan?"

"Not all over, but in the major cities and anywhere else that is considerably populated. Not all of our assignments lead to locations that are conveniently close to HQ. Yoh must be picking something up he may have left here. It's just as well, I too have many of my things scattered in various locations."

"I see." was all Yusuke said as the rounded the corner. The two continued to walk about halfway down the block until Rin stopped.

"This should be far enough. We can wait here."

The two waited in what felt like awkward silence. Awkward at least for Yusuke. There wasn't anything he could do about it, as much as he wanted to ask her questions he thought it would best to leave them for Yoh instead. His thoughts were interrupted by the woman standing next to him.

"I haven't gotten a chance to apologize for my... actions. I didn't mean to hurt her I just-"

"Hey, don't sweat it. I mean I was pretty pissed off, but it's whatever now. You had to do what you had to do. I get it."

Rin left it at that. A little relieved she let out a sigh but winced at the action. She could feel the remainder of her headache creeping back to the back her skull. Reaching behind her head Rin placed gentle fingers on the throbbing area. The touch didn't hurt, which meant it was fully healed.

"Hey, sorry about that. We should have stopped him before it got too violent. Hiei gets a little carried away sometimes."

Rin stuttered. She wasn't sure how to react to his apology. A part of her wanted to say it was okay and that what had happened had already happened, but it wasn't okay. Rin suffered a cracked skull and a massive headache. She couldn't help but feel some sort of resentment towards the demon. So instead of forgiving she decided to forget. "Forget it." but then a thought struck her. "The girl with the blue... green hair, was she the one that healed me?"

"Who, Yukina?" Rin nodded at the name. "Yeah, she's our healer. Wait, how did you know?"

"She came in to check on me when I was starting to wake up." and then after a pause, "She was very kind."

"Huh. Now that you bring it up they told me you ran off this morning."

Rin tilted her head to the side, making it look like a bored gesture. "I had to get back. They didn't know where I was. It took me almost four hours just to get back."

"Yeah, the old hag likes her privacy." Rin's ears picked up at this.

"The old woman, the short one?"

"Yeah, but don't go around saying that. If she ever hears you you'll get whipped into tomorrow."

She narrowed her eyes in a glare. "You told her?"

"Told her what?" this time Yusuke furrowed his eyebrows in an offended manner. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about." she hissed. Now she was glaring daggers. "Did you tell her about us or our assignment?"

"No! Of course I didn't. You guys made it pretty clear that you wanted this on the dl. Why would I go flapping my mouth?" Yusuke seemed really offended this time. He had stepped back, away from Rin with his arms crossed across his chest.

"She would have asked questions. You did bring an unconscious stranger onto her property after all."

"Look, she's seen you but she doesn't know the details alright? When we got there Yukina took you in and started healing you. Genkai came into the room and asked who you were, but because none of us had filled Yukina in about the situation she couldn't answer her. And when she came looking for us we made a bunch of excuses and ditched."

Rin didn't notice that her whole body was tense until she finally relaxed. "Good."

Yusuke twitched in annoyance. "Good? Is that all you have to say? Do you know how much shit I'm going to get once I go back there?"

"No, I don't. And to solve your problem it's simple, just don't go back."

Yusuke about had it. He turned around and waved his hand to dismiss her. "Okay, now you're just being a smart ass."

Rin lifted a hand to cover her face and held it there. "I've been hearing a lot of that as of late." She heard him scoff.

"Can't say I'm surprised."

"Hey, you two." Yoh's voice was heard coming from down the street. He was carrying a large black satchel that slung across his torso. Rin was relieved of the awkward turn of conversation.

"What's that?" Yusuke pointed to the black bag with suspicion on his face.

"A laptop. Let's get going."

* * *

"A cafe?" Yoh led them to a rather busy part of town. People coming and going, children running amok, and all up and down the street people littered the sides handing out business cards.

"Yoh is notorious for choosing cafes as a place of meeting." Rin said as she followed Yoh inside.

"I guess."

"Irashaimasen!" The three were greeted by a bowing waitress.

"Table for three please. We are having a business meeting so is it possible for us to get a more private table?"

"Of course. Please, right this way." The young girl led them towards the back of the cafe. Looking around the place wasn't too busy. A few couples here and a group there. Yoh had picked a pretty secluded place that wasn't entirely and suspiciously out of the public eye.

They were seated in the very corner of the cafe. Yoh slid into the booth and made room for Rin to sit down next to him and Yusuke sat across.

"Is there anything I can get for you right away?"

"Coffee, please." Yoh looked down to Rin and then to Yusuke expectantly. "Rin, Yusuke? Order anything you'd like. It's on me."

"In that case I'll have a chocolate sundae with extra syrup please." Yusuke's eyes lit up at the young lady. "Oh and can you add the cherry on top too?"

"Of course. And for you miss?"

"Hot tea, please."

"Alright, I'll be right back with your orders."

Yoh waited for the waitress to walk away before he started digging through the bag. He pulled out a laptop and placed it on the table. It hummed to life as he went typing away on the keys. Rin leaned over to get a good look on the screen to see what he was up to and saw a familiar program start up. "Are you on Jin's server?"

"Yes, he allowed me access so that I can review some of the data he collected. I've also been using it to track down our target."

"So have you found him?" Yusuke asked from across the table.

Yoh stopped typing and looked at him from beneath his gray lashes. "As a matter of fact, I did."

"Is he here?" Rin asked with urgency in her tone. "What are we doing here if you know where he is? We should call Shin and have him meet us."

"Yes he is here and no we will not contact Shin. Not yet." He started to type away on the laptop. "I've been following him though past video footage and his patterns are questionable. Tell me, Yusuke, your demon friend mentioned that one night about someone traveling using your portal. Would you mind telling me when and where you placed it?"

"Let's see." Yusuke put a finger to his chin. "Well, I got back around 8 at night. That was the night she took Keiko. And my portal was... On this side of the river. Why?"

"I'd like to show you two something." Yoh turned the laptop sideways so Yusuke could get a look as well. On it was the scan Jin had showed earlier. "Yusuke, I'd like to introduce to you, Shizen."

"Shizen, huh? So this is the fucker that's been causing you to give me a headache?"

"You and I both." Rin muttered.

"Yes, this is him. This photo was captured that same night you first met Rin, and roughly around the same area here in Edogawa."

"If he's here then why aren't we out there chasing his ass?"

"Because I want to bring to clarity one of our current issues."

Yusuke lifted an eyebrow. "And that is?"

"The one that currently stands between Rin and your friend, Hiei, I believe his name is."

"You mean the whole portal thing?" Yusuke said out loud. Rin shushed him with a glare immediately.

"Do you forget where we are? Keep your voice down." she hissed. She seemed to be doing a lot of hissing lately.

"Oh, my bad." Yusuke whispered. It was perfect timing that the waitress came with all of their drinks, aside from Yusuke who ordered a large glass of ice cream completely doused in chocolate syrup. Yoh quickly turned the laptop around to hide the screen from view. "Ah man, Keiko never lets me have these. At least not ones this big anyway. Something about too many calories or whatever."

"There you go. Is there anything else I can get you right away?" the waitress asked.

"No thank you. This will be it." Yoh responded with a smile.

"You're welcome. Let me know if anything comes up." she turned to go. Everyone took a moment to sip (or take a gigantic spoon full) before getting right back to it.

"What I'm trying to say is that Shizen's appearance coincides with the portal issue. Hiei shouldn't be out looking for a confession from Rin, but rather he should be out looking for him." Yoh pointed to the screen, the laptop turned to the side once again.

"How do we confirm it was him?" Rin asked.

"Yeah, Hiei's not just going to take your word for it. You saw how that went when she told him otherwise." Yusuke jabbed a thumb in Rin's direction. "He's the kind of guy that likes his proof. Ya know, actions over words or crap like that." He continued to dig into his sundae.

"Well, we do know he is somewhere here in the vicinity." Yoh paused to put his cup down. "What if we have that friend of yours see for himself?"

"Wha?" Yusuke spoke, ice cream dripping from his lip.

"The demon was able to sense lingering traces of spirit energy in the portal and he was able to match it with Rin's, but even you can account Rin's whereabouts and know it couldn't possibly be her. The thing is, with us contractors our abilities don't come from spiritual power or energies. I wouldn't be surprised if all of us have the same signature wavelength. We don't emit energies like you do."

"That's not true." Yusuke looked up from his now empty sundae cup. "I was able to sense her when I came to get Keiko that night."

Yoh turned an impassive eye to Rin. "Perhaps we should get that checked. Maybe on your next leave you can consult with the medics."

"Hmm." Rin nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, let's have your demon friend come see Shizen for himself. He can evaluate any spiritual energies he may have and we'll have him determine if that is what matches Rin. If it does, then my theory would be proven correct."

"And while we're at it you can catch the guy and everything will be settled!"

"My thoughts exactly."

"Great! So where do we start?"

"We begin at the location of your portal."

"Why there?"

"I was thinking you could track him down using whatever traces of spirit energy that might be left."

"But why me?" Yusuke gave him a stern look. "It wasn't me that picked up that energy you know. I was completely oblivious if you hadn't noticed."

"Would it do to have your friend come and trace it then?"

"Yoh," Rin snapped her head his way and shot him a glare. "What do you think you're doing?"

Yoh gave her a look like he didn't know what she was talking about. "What?"

"It's enough that you got him involved, but now you want, of all persons, a _full_ demon to help us? Are you trying to end the world as we speak?"

"The situation calls for it, Rin. Even if we get Shizen with Yusuke's help, there's no telling that that demon will stop coming after you. If things get out of hand like last time I can't guarantee that this won't get past the Syndicate. And if word of you travels to Makai because of this false accusation, who knows if Reikai might catch on to it as well. It's better to finish everything here and now and be done with it."

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with him on this one." Rin looked turned a glaring eye at Yusuke. "Hiei doesn't like to back down. If he really thinks you're the one that snuck through that portal then he will come after you full force. He also doesn't like being proven wrong so you gotta pull all the stops if that's what you're trying to do."

Rin stared at her cup of lukewarm tea. Things were getting more and more complicated as they went and this was definitely not a good sign. "Is there nothing else we can do?" she finally asked.

"Not that I can come up with at this moment. Since we're already here it's a prime time for us to do this."

"Something has seriously screwed with your logic. Is it that premonition you refuse to tell us about?"

Yoh gave her what he thought was a reassuring smile, but to Rin it screamed 'fake' all over it. "I'd rather not delve into that at this moment."

Rin took one long look at Yoh before her shifty eyes landed on Yusuke and then back on Yoh. "I don't like any of it, but fine. Do what you have to." She slouched back against the seat and crossed her arms in defeat. "But if your demon friend lands even a finger on me again I guarantee I won't hold back. Even if it means breaking a femur."

Yusuke gave her a look like she suddenly turned into a man. "Uh, what?"

"Don't you remember? Rin's cost for using her abilities is-"

"Don't remind him." She interrupted Yoh.

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that. So what's the extent of your power if you break a femur?" Yusuke asked, curiosity peaking his interest.

"If your friend decides to touch me again then you'll find out."

"Huh."

"Ahem." Yoh cleared his throat to interrupt the stray topic. "Yusuke, I'd like for you to contact Hiei and have him meet us at the location your portal was placed. Perhaps he can help us find Shizen while helping himself as well."

"Sure, but there's one problem."

"Now what?" Rin spat.

"Well, Hiei and I don't work together anymore so it's hard for me to get a hold of him. Well, not like it was ever easy, but ya know... Oh wait, I could ask Kurama."

The two contractors didn't respond to Yusuke's suddenly brilliant plan. The three of them sat in silence for a few moments as he waited for them to recognize the name he just spoke up. "Uhh... You know, the other demon that was with me. Long red hair, green eyes, too smart for his own good?"

"Ah yes, him."

"He's the closest one to Hiei out of all of us so I'm sure Kurama can work something out."

"All of us?" Rin eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"The team Koenma was in charge of composed of four individuals." Yoh answered her.

"How did you know about that? We were supposed to be secret!"

"What Jin doesn't know I know everything else." Yoh gave another fake, but this time, satisfying smirk. "You don't expect us to remain secret when we don't know who to avoid, do you?"

"Yeah, I guess. But there's another problem."

Rin growled and leaned over the table to get closer to Yusuke. "What _now_ , hanyou?"

He leaned back against the seat to distance himself from the annoyed contractor. "I don't know how to contact Kurama." he managed to squeak out.

Rin slammed a fist on the table, the cups clattering from the force. "Useless." and got up from her seat.

"Rin, where are you going?" Yoh called after her.

"Outside, hurry up. I have an idea."

The two men shared a quick glance before Yoh took out some money and left it on the table. He gathered his lap top and they followed Rin out of the door.

"Hey what's going o-"

"You," Rin spun around and pointed a sharp finger at Yusuke. "Take me to that portal location."

"Huh, I-"

"Now!" she almost screamed. Rin's patience was wearing thin with the hanyou. She was starting to see how 'helpful' he really was and began thinking that all the work she had put through just to get him was a waste of time. How could anyone so clueless, so oblivious, so unorganized, so- _UGH!_ How did he ever wind up working for the Reikai anyway?

"Alright already! Sheesh." Yusuke walked ahead mumbling under his breath. Rin heard him as he passed her, something about what has he gotten himself into and the correlation between people in black and bad tempers.

Yusuke led them back towards the bridge. They were a couple miles out from the river in the middle of a thicket of trees, not quite large enough for a forest, but big enough to conceal hidden agendas for anyone that entered that had any. Yusuke turned around to face the contractors. He gestured a hand to the ground, "Here. Are you happy now?"

Rin went over to the spot to examine anything out of the ordinary that might have hinted that a portal was here but she found nothing. No marks, no footprints, anything.

"Rin, what are you planning to do?" Yoh asked over her shoulder, examining the same spot she looked at hoping he could gather what she was trying to look for. She walked over to a nearby tree and placed a palm on the rough surface of the bark. Pulling her hand away she began to remove her gloves and got into a fighting stance. "Rin?"

Completely ignoring Yoh she started punching the trunk of the tree in small deliberate blows releasing sparks of electricity with each hit. With each contact more and more smoke started to drift into the air. Just from looking Yoh could tell she was sending in bigger blasts of electricity every time her fists hit the trunk. "Rin, you're going to set the tree on fire at this rate. Stop it." She continued to ignore him and didn't falter in her attacks one bit.

Rin reeled her right fist back for another punch, but just before she could thrust it into the tree she was sent flying into the one behind her.

* * *

"Wow, the campus is so big!"

Shin chuckled quietly, "Don't go off wandering too far. I don't want to have to go looking for you."

"Right." Rin blushed a few shades of pink. "So where's your lab?"

"This way." Shin led her to a building that laid off to the side of the courtyard. Inside, the halls were bustling with students, many of them in lab coats.

"Everyone looks so busy! Is it always like this here?"

Shin looked behind him as Rin continued to follow closely. "Normally it's a little calmer than this. There's a deadline for the end of this week so everyone is busting their behind trying to get things done." He kept walking at an even pace making sure she was able to keep up with him through the rush. "I don't think you ever mentioned what it was your brother studied in university."

"Oh, he was in the science department. Kinda like you."

"Is that so?" He gave her a suspicious look.

* * *

Hiei had her pinned with one hand around her throat, holding her up off the ground.

"What the hell, Hiei?" Yusuke shouted absentmindedly.

Hiei didn't advert his eyes as he stared down the woman struggling in front of him. "Liar," he said through gritted teeth. "Make this easy for the both of us and confess already so I can kill you now."

Rin began to wheeze from lack of air and instinctively grabbed Hiei's wrist with both hands. "Hiei, let her go!" Yusuke yelled.

"Stay out of this!" He snapped at Yusuke, never taking his eyes off Rin. She could practically feel him bore holes into her eye sockets with how intense his glare was, but that soon dissipated as her vision began to close in due to lack of air.

"No, listen! She's not the one who used my portal! If you give us a minute we can show you." Yusuke gestured to Yoh who was posed rather calmly about the situation before him. "He might have found out who it is you _should_ be looking for."

Hiei paid him no mind as he mumbled under his breath, "I should have done this in the beginning."

* * *

"Do you mind hanging here while I check on some things in the lab? I'd invite you in but unfortunately it's restricted to students only."

"Not at all! Take your time." Rin sat down on a bench right outside the lab doors. She watched as Shin, dressed in his lab coat, passed through the doors. The sight of him in the crisp clean material sprouted old memories of her brother. He always had a passion for the sciences. Their parents had gifted him his own imitation of the professional article when he was just a child. There wasn't a day he was ever without it.

Rin's heart ached at the memory. It has been years since she last talked to her brother. When Takenaga-san had offered to show her around campus she had jumped at the idea secretly hoping that she would somehow run into him, but as she sat on that bench waiting and watching for a familiar face to pass by she couldn't help but feel that her brother wouldn't be found here after all.

* * *

With what little vision Rin had left she saw a purple glow underneath the white head band on the demon's forehead. It shown with a soft light that, accompanied with the abnormal body heat emitting from him, soothed her into a relaxing stupor. Her vision went completely black though she was not asleep. Then, as if she was watching her life flash before her eyes, memories of her past played out most of which were recent. They reeled along her mind's eye quickly jumping from one memory to the next; her at the cafe with Yoh and Yusuke, when she first woke after her head injury, her fight with the fire demon, her confrontation with Yusuke, then her little night out with Keiko. The reeling stopped there and as if reliving the events over again she went through the whole ordeal of running into Keiko and having dinner with her, kidnapping her and then tying her up.

As weird as it was going through all these memories, Rin felt otherwise. Her body went numb and her brain felt like it had shut down, allowing some other entity to invade the most private sector of her being. There wasn't much she could do, but stare through her own eyes at the familiar things in her life.

The scene between her and Keiko and waiting for Yusuke in the warehouse replayed another time. She was watching Yusuke enter the warehouse when her vision went black again.

There was a pause after the last memory left her. She was left suspended in darkness. It was a comforting feeling, being surrounded by nothing, calming in fact. It was short lived, however, when light erupted before her. The darkness soon left her vision as white light took over. She found her hands before her, splayed out on white tiled floor. A drop of liquid fell on the ground before her, her ears heard panting. "Get up." she heard.

Rin watched in first person as her view went up and stopped at the young man standing over her. He had a head full of fiery red hair and eyes like the golden sun. He looked down from his nose with a blank stare. "I said get up." The memory of her body got up, but not without struggling. As soon as she had straightened out to sand up his large hand grabbed her by the shoulder to pull her forward, he jammed a knee to her gut expelling any air she had left in her lungs. Her body fell down and she was in the same position she had 'woken' up to once again. "Get up," he said again and the world went black.

* * *

"Well, that's weird." Shin had finally come out from the lab.

"What's wrong?" Rin asked from her seat on the bench.

"The report I had left out earlier was submitted by someone else." He had a brown folder in his hands and was flipping through the papers. "Everything has been initialed and stamped."

"Oh. Is that a bad thing?"

"Hmm, not really, but I'm not fond of other people touching my work without me knowing."

Rin got up from her seat and stood next to Shin. "Do you mind if I take a look?"

Shin took a glance at her and shrugged. "Sure, I don't see why not. These weren't confidential anyway." He tilted the folder towards her and flipped through the sheets of already initialed documents. "The initials say S.J., but I can't think of anyone in the lab with those initials."

"What about the stamp? Did you read the family name on it?"

"No, I only skimmed through it before I came out here." Shin flipped through the remaining papers and stopped at the last page. At the very bottom of the sheet was a big, red, circular stamp with characters that read 'Shibata'.

"Takenaga-san, that's-" Rin stuttered as her eyes narrowed in recognition.

"What is it, Shibata-san?"

"That's my family seal."

* * *

Rin was back in her calm state of darkness waiting expectantly for the next scene to unfold. Another one did as the setting around her turned into the familiar space of one of the conference rooms in the Syndicate headquarters. She remembered this meeting. This was the year the Syndicate started prepping her for outside work. They were finally allowing her to take on assignments, but with proper training, and it was here that they were going to assign her to a mentor.

Her view was staring down at the mahogany table in front of her, waiting for the event she knew would come. "You have been granted permission to train and study for field work. We will have you undergo a three year training program. There will be an assessment followed by a one year probation period should you pass." Two rough and calloused hands intertwined and rested themselves a top the table. Rin let her gaze drift upwards towards the face of the man addressing her; Yamori sat, poised as ever.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Shin took this moment to look at Rin's face to see if she showed any signs of doubt.

"I've had my father stamp enough school papers to know that _that_ ," she pointed to the red stamp of approval, "is our family seal."

"If that's your family seal, then who in your family has the J initial?"

"No one, which is strange. Who would steal our family seal?"

"Perhaps there is a full signature here that we missed. Some of these documents are delicate and require an actual signature rather than a stamp." Shin went back to the front of the envelope and started shuffling through the papers again. "Ah, here we go." Using his free hand Shin slid a finger down the form and stopped at the bottom where a messy, yet legible, signature laid. "Shibata Jinen. I don't remember a Jinen in the lab. Strange name now that I think about it. What do you think, Shibata-san?" Shin paused and examined the signature a little more closely. When he didn't receive any sort of reply from the girl next to him, "Shibata-san?"

He looked up and found her face in a state of shock. "Shibata-san, what's wrong?"

Rin lifted a hand and stopped right before she could grab the document. "Takenaga-san, may I?" Shin took the paper and handed it to her, watching carefully at her expression. Rin took a few seconds to go over the signature. She looked up at Shin with a face he couldn't discern. "I know this hand writing anywhere." She flipped the paper over so that it was facing Shin and pointed at the scribbled name. "Shibata Jinen _is_ my brother. This is Shizen's handwriting."

* * *

Rin's eyes shifted to the stack of papers on the table. There was no doubt that those were her records.

"You will be removed from your routine activities starting now. As of today, Jinen will be in charge of you. You will report to him until further notice. Do you understand?"

Rin turned her head to the man sitting next to her. He had a mess of black hair and eyes to match. "Yes, sir."

* * *

 **So this one is especially long. I couldn't find a good place to break it without it being too short. I know the last few parts may be a little confusing with going back and forth between Shin and then Rin in her some of her past memories. I would be happy to clear up the confusion if you need me too.**

 **Shocker! Seems like Rin is keeping one heck of a secret! She's got some explainin' to doo.**

 **Thanks for reading and happy holidays, everyone!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Darker than Black**

* * *

"Good, you two are dismissed." Rin got up from her seat along with another and walked out the door. Though she wasn't able to see through the lens of her past self, she already knew who followed behind her.

Once out the door a quiet voice sounded behind her and she turned around to face the owner. "I look forward to working with you, Rin."

Rin didn't return the polite gesture, but instead stood stock straight. "What would you have me do for the remainder of the day?"

He waved a hand as if to dismiss her and started walking away. "Take the rest of the day off. I expect you in the training room at 0400 sharp."

Rin watched his retreating figure as spots of black began to fill her vision. "What is he doing to her?" she heard. The spots grew bigger, blotching out majority of the scene in front of her.

"Tell me!" she heard again. The voice sounded familiar. The hall in the Syndicate headquarters completely vanished and almost immediately light streamed into her vision.

"I demand an explanation! What is he doing to her?" _Yoh. Is that Yoh?_ "If you've done anything to hurt her I will kill you!"

Slowly, Rin's vision started to come back into focus. She wondered if she was revisiting another memory, but didn't recognize which one. As her eyes got adjusted to the sunlight she found herself looking at a broad, albeit petite, chest clad in black. A few seconds later she could feel two fingers against her forehead, pushing her head back so that it leaned against the tree behind her.

Hiei released his hold on Rin and stood up. The woman in front of him fell and landed on her side. "Hn."

Yusuke let go of Yoh and he rushed over to Rin and sat her up letting her lean back against his chest as he tilt her face towards him to see if any damage was done.

"What did you find?" Yusuke asked as he watched the pair on the ground.

"Nothing I need, but you might want to ask her what other secrets she's hiding. Seems she's been holding back from even you." Hiei looked down at Yoh who returned the gesture.

Yoh turned back to the conscious, but limp woman in his arms. "What is he talking about?"

Rin didn't answer, but instead continued to stare ahead at nothing in particular. Yoh shook her slightly to get her attention. "Rin, answer me."

Completely ignoring Yoh she slowly got up and dusted her pants with her hands. "Are you satisfied? Did you find all the proof you needed?" No one had to ask to know whom that question was directed at.

Hiei said nothing and just sent a menacing glare her way.

"Hey, don't change the subject. What is Hiei talking about? Are you hiding something _again_?"

Rin tensed at Yusuke's question and it didn't go unnoticed by Yoh.

"Why don't you tell them who Jinen is?" Hiei said, his glare long gone was replaced by a knowing smirk.

* * *

"Takenaga-san where are we going?" Rin tried her best not to trip and fall as Shin pulled her through the crowded hallway of the science building hastily. He rounded a corner and went through a set of glass double doors. The hallway beyond this point was almost deserted. He dragged her to the furthest door on the left and went inside.

From the looks of it Rin could tell she was just taken to an empty lab room. Four black counter tops each covered in an array of beakers and test tubes, cabinets with glass doors lined the walls above the shelves with more supplies. Shin cleared his throat and that brought her attention back to the only other person in the room.

"Do you want to explain to me how this Jinen is your brother?"

"Well, Jinen is just a nickname. My parents gave it to him when he was just little. He often went by that name growing up though."

Shin walked over and leaned back on one of the counters, careful to not knock anything down. "And you're sure this," he waved the folder of signed documents in his hand, "is him?"

"Who else could it be? No person, especially Japanese, would name their kid Jinen."

Shin stood in silence, contemplating what this mean.t. When he stayed silent too long Rin started to get worried. "Umm, is my brother in trouble?"

"Not exactly, but I would like to know why he signed off on my paper work. These papers were only meant for my lab partners and professor. There are other exceptions of course but..."

"I understand." Rin started to look a little slum. She casted her glance downwards as if in shame.

"Here's an idea, how about we walk around campus and see if we can find him. These were only submitted this morning so there's a chance he's still here."

Shin gave her a smile, "It's worth a shot."

Shin and Rin made their way back to the lab they first came upon. "I'll just put these away and then we can head out."

"Sure, take your time."

After Shin shut the door behind him he made a quick walk through of the lab to make sure no one else was inside. When he confirmed that not a soul was in there with him he pulled out a cellular device from his pocket and dialed Jin's number.

"Hello?" came Jin's monotone voice.

"Jin? It's Shin. I need you to look up a Jinen for me, Jinen Shibata. See if you can find any connections to the university."

"Got it."

Shin hung up the phone and walked back out to meet with Rin. "Shall we?"

* * *

"Who is Jinen?" Yoh asked with narrowed eyes.

"Nobody you need to concern yourself with." Rin was trying her best to avert attention away from the topic. She didn't like the position she was put in. Silently, she scowled to the man that had made her life more complicated.

"The demon seems to think otherwise." Yoh got up from the ground and walked over to Rin. She looked up at him and saw the face that demanded an answer. "You will tell me who this Jinen is and you will say so without holding anything back."

"Or else what?" She spat. "Are you going to report me to the Syndicate for sabotaging an assignment? Are you going to tell Yamori about how we ended up teaming with demons too? When was the last time you even reported to him?"

"That is none of your concern." Yoh spoke through gritted teeth.

"And neither is this. Leave the name alone. It has nothing to do with our objective."

"I beg to differ, and I never beg." Hiei decided he found an opportunity to jump in on the conversation. Rin shot him a stink eye.

"I'll permanently paralyze you where you stand." she threatened.

"Try me." Hiei countered.

"You test my patience every time you open that mouth of yours, do you know that?"

Hiei smirked at the remark, not in the least bit annoyed, rather he was entertained. "No I don't, but now that I do I feel that I'm more inclined to speak my mind."

Rin clenched her hands into fists so tight that the leather gloves began to squeak. Tiny sparks were seen dancing around her knuckles. "I will tolerate this no further." Just as she was about to lunge for the fire demon her balance was thrown off by the ground shaking beneath her. Rin looked up to see if the others had felt it too and judging by their wary stances she didn't just imagine it.

"What was-" Before Yusuke could finish his sentence an explosion was heard in the distance. Everyone's head snapped in the direction of the sound.

Hiei disappeared into the tree tops and scanned the area. Smoke streamed into the air and sparks of fire caught the edges of what use to be there, the bridge.

"Hiei, what do you see up there?" Yusuke called out from the ground. Instead of answering him Hiei ran towards the direction of the explosion. "Hiei!" Yusuke screamed but to no avail.

Rin and Yoh ran in the same direction. Upon exiting the foliage the two contractors walked out onto the main road. Neither said a word as they watched the chaos before them. Yusuke joined them in the shock.

Cars lined the street and some were even turning around to head back east. People weaved in and out of the lines running and trying to get to safety. Behind the rush of civilians was a big black cloud of smoke that only continued to grow. Dim flickers of orange light reflected off the massive cloud indicating a fire.

"Somebody, call help!" Their attentions snapped over to the voice of a man covered in soot running for his life. Yusuke stepped in front of him to block his path.

"Whoa, slow down. What happen?" he tried his best to sound calm.

"The bridge exploded!" The man exclaimed in between breaths. "Everyone that was on it has gone under." He wheezed and leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees, "Some of the cars that weren't on the bridge got caught up in the explosion. It's causing a chain reaction!" Suddenly catching his second wind the man stood straight and grabbed onto Yusuke's shoulders. "If we don't get out of here quick we'll get caught up in it!"

Another explosion went off and another staff of smoke filled the air. The man let go of Yusuke and ran past the group. He looked behind him and spoke without slowing down, "As long as there are cars lined up the explosions won't stop. Get running!"

Yusuke whipped his head around and looked at Rin. "We can't just stand here. We gotta do something!" Both nodded their head and started running towards the fire.

Hiei ran off the side of the road, weaving through the trees so that he remained out of sight. His senses were on full alert, trying to maintain his grasp on the energy signal he managed to pick up when the first explosion happened. He could feel it coming closer with every second. He was about to pick up the pace when something made him stop abruptly. His head snapped right then left. Suddenly, the energy signal he had been following multiplied. A second one was coming from the same direction as the one he was heading towards and the other from his left. He concentrated a little more and was able to pick up the original signal again, but it too soon blended with others. Hiei clicked his tongue in annoyance and darted out of the forest to get a bearing on his surrounding area. He stopped when he heard a loud groan coming from the main street. Turning to look he saw the ground before him split.

Rin pushed her way through the crowd of people, Yoh and Yusuke following from behind. Everyone was either crying or scream all while running for their lives. She didn't miss the scene when a man had tripped and fell. No one stopped to help him up, a mass of people crushing the poor civilian under their feet. Rin's balance was thrown off a moment later. Everyone around them became silent, listening to the rumble coming from the ground.

Straight ahead, Rin spotted a piece of the road split across the lanes, the force pushing both cracked ends up so that it created a hill. Cars from either sides of the split toppled down and landed on the cars behind them. _What-_ Rin thought, but immediately rephrased her question when she saw the person responsible for the sudden earth quake.

Off to the side Hiei spotted a man leaning over with one knee on the floor. He had his opposite hand placed on the ground in front him. He followed the man's line of vision and found it directing towards the sudden split in the earth. He sensed the same the aura coming from the man as the one he had been following earlier. _Must be one of them._ He retreated to just behind the tree line so he could continue to observe the spectacle before him. "Let's see what these contractors are made of."

Rin zeroed in on the man off the side of the road, he was bent over on one knee. It would be easy to mistaken him for an injured person, but judging from the focus in his eyes she could tell that wasn't the case. "Yoh!" She yelled over the screams. Rin pointed over to the man and Yoh whipped his head in the directed indicated. He squinted his eyes to get a better look, but they soon widened in recognition.

"He's one of us. Yusuke, we have to split up. Do whatever you can to contain the situation but most importantly, keep out of sight!"

"Okay!" Yusuke saluted. He ran off to the left, Rin saw him head into the direction of the fallen man. She refocused her attention to Yoh.

"What do you suggest we do?"

"I want you to get on the other side of the river and see if you can sto-" another explosion interrupted him, but Rin was quick to catch the order. She left his side and started running for the river.

It didn't take long for Rin to reach the now non-existing bridge. Carefully, she peaked over the edge to see the damage done. Rin didn't bat and eyelash as she over looked the rubble and pile of cars in the river below. The few people that did survive the fall she could see trying to scramble atop of some of the vehicles. Luckily for them the current wasn't strong. _They will be okay for now_ , she thought. She brought her attention back to the matter at hand and that was getting across to the other side. The next bridge was not an option. It would be miles along the river and Rin had no time for that. She looked down at the river again. The current wasn't strong, perhaps she could swim across. It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do.

Rin ran off the road and down the river a ways so that she was out of view from most of the crowd. She reached the line of trees and shed her coat. Throwing it into the bushes she proceeded to remove her shoes.

"What are you doing?" a familiar voice sounded behind her.

Without turning around she answered him while removing the first boot. "I need to cross the river."

"What for?"

Annoyance tickled the end of her nerves. She stood up and faced the fire demon behind her. "To chase after the one responsible. Why else?"

"And how exactly do you plan on crossing without your shoes?" Hiei showed no signs of amusement on his face.

"I'll swim across. Now if you'll excuse me." She bent down to remove her other boot, but was interrupted when his arm hooked around her waist. He hoisted her atop his shoulder, her legs dangling in front of him. Rin looked to the side and saw him grab her other boot.

"What are you-ah!" The words flew out of her mouth as suddenly the ground in front of her had disappeared. Colors flew past her in a flurry. Rin couldn't make out what was going on. It seemed like everything was happening so fast that her brain couldn't quite catch up. She felt pressure on her stomach as his shoulder dug in deep creating an uncomfortable feeling in her gut, but the feeling soon passed when she found herself flying across the river.

Hiei used his speed to help launch himself and the woman across the river. It was much too easy for him considering the width of the river wasn't too wide. Like an agile cat, he landed on his feet without the slightest stumble and dropped the woman from his shoulder. She fell on her side to the ground with an oomph. The woman made no move to get up as she was still trying to recover from the sudden rush of movement.

Hiei watched her as she slowly got to her feet. "Thank you." she said as she reached out a hand. He handed her the boot.

"Hn."

"Look out!" someone shouted. "It's going to explode!"

Rin and Hiei turned their heads in the direction of the voices. Down the road they spotted a car on fire. A stack of smoke was rising from the hood. Seconds later Rin felt slight movement of earth when the car had finally detonated. Pieces covered in flames scattered everywhere, catching onto nearby vehicles and setting those a flame as well.

Rin quickly put on her boot and ran towards the cars. "Running towards a disaster isn't the smartest choice here." Hiei called out to her.

"You're looking for him aren't you?" Rin stopped running and turned around to face Hiei. "I know what it was you were running after, or rather, who and you are right to think so. I know who caused this and now I am surer than anyone that he is the same person you should be going after."

Hiei didn't say a word. He just looked at her, waiting to see where she was getting with this.

"We're after the same person. Why don't we help each other?"

"And why would I ally myself with you? You've already proven yourself to be untrustworthy."

"Did that trip down memory lane teach you anything? No one knows him like I do. I am the only one with any chance to get to him."

Hiei snorted. He dawned a haughty smirk and spoke in a condescending tone. "And what makes you so special? I far surpass you in any physical activity, my spiritual energy is numerous compared to yours, and my physical body can withstand much _much_ more than what that scraggly one of yours is capable of." Hiei stepped closer, "I can circle you a hundred times over, and I can crush your bones to ash with my bare hands." He took another step and then another. "I can penetrate your mind and show you fear like you've never seen, I can even eat you whole." He was standing inches from her now. Rin tilted her head back to look at him. He sneered at her from above. "I outclass you in every way possible. So tell me why it is only _you_ that can capture someone who would probably fall at the flick of my finger."

Without even flinching Rin replied with a flat, "Wit."

Hiei let out a low growl from the cavity of his chest, his lips pulled back slightly as he spoke through clenched teeth. "What?"

"Though it is impossible for me to match you in physical prowess there is one area that I am capable of excelling at." Clearly not intimidated by his act Rin closed the remaining gap between them. She could feel the heat emit off of him in waves. Was this normal for him? "I know how he thinks. I know how his brain works. I know what makes him jump and I know what makes him sleep at night. _I_ am the only one suited for this assignment." Rin cocked her head to the side and stepped back. She took a second for her eyes to roam his body. She found his stature tense, his eyebrows knit, and his jaw clenched. "Are you offended?" She asked.

Hiei didn't move an inch. As slightly uncomfortable as he was with being this close to her he couldn't give her the satisfaction of showing it.

After receiving no response Rin continued, "Does it anger you knowing that a simple human such as I has the ability to surpass you, a powerful demon with the strength of a thousand men and speed as fast as lightning?" Again, Hiei did not respond. "Do not underestimate me just because I am human, I am just as capable as you. My body may be _scraggly_ , but my mind is sharp and I know how to use it well." Rin could feel the heat around her increase into an uncomfortable degree. She couldn't tell if it was because of the fires around them or because she had intentionally ticked a nerve of the man in front of her.

Hiei was completely enraged at this point that he couldn't even move, afraid that if he did he would tear her heart out first thing. In all his living years and across the expanse of two worlds never had anyone spoken to him like she had. Was he conscious? Was the woman in front of him just a figment of his imagination? Was this just a nightmare and he was actually sleeping in a random tree back in the Makai?

Hiei's hands opened up from their tighten fists and began to raise them, aiming for the pale area of bared skin that is, and soon to be was, her throat but before he even knew it he had grasped onto thin air. He blinked once, then twice. The woman had her back turned and was once again heading in the direction of the explosion. Hiei was so angry that he couldn't see clearly. When did she start walking away?

The woman turned around and watched him with careful eyes as he lowered his hands. "If we are going to catch him then I need you to set aside our differences. The faster you work through that the better. There's no telling how far he could be now." She flicked her gaze back up to his face before turning around.

Hiei watched her walk away for a few moments before following.

But little did they know how wrong Rin had been, for it would seem that the two had more in common than they could ever imagine.

* * *

Yoh ran up to the contractor kneeling on the ground and grabbed his wrist. "What do you think you're doing this out in public?"

The man looked at Yoh, slightly confused by his question.

"Go back to HQ and let the authorities handle the rest." The man slowly and wearily got up. "And don't bother reporting the incident, lest you don't mind being interrogated by the council."

The man got up and withdrew from the scene. Yoh sighed in relief and continued his way to the river.

Most of the pedestrians had already escaped the wreckage. Yoh was pretty much the only one left on the site. Everything within a three mile radius was in ruin. Abandoned cars scattered all over the now wrecked road, debris littered almost every inch of ground that was left. Yoh jogged the rest of the way to the river and stopped when could proceed no further. He had sent Rin to other side in hopes she could somehow catch up to the perpetrator, figuring she could handle herself just fine he made a turn and ran back to find Yusuke.

* * *

"How much further?" Rin asked, perched on the demon's back.

She had managed to convince him to carry her the rest of the way if they were going to catch the perpetrator. Since crossing the river in a flurry Rin was quite impressed, and now well informed, about the incredible speed the demon possessed. Using him to get their target would be the most logical decision. That, and because of his ability to sense spiritual energies, auras, _whatever_ , she thought.

"Just up ahead." Hiei made one last leap from the tree branch and landed in a crouch. Rin heard a gasp, but didn't see who it came from since she had her eyes closed the entire time, the force of the wind making it too hard to keep them open. She slid off his back and took a second to recuperate. Finally able to stand straight she rested her eyes on the man she had been looking for.

"Rin, what a pleasant not-surprise."

Hiei recognized the face of the man in front of them though he has aged since the memory. He waited for Rin to register the presence before them, but the name that came out of her mouth wasn't the one he had heard in her flashbacks.

Her eyes hardened at his greeting, clearly not amused. "Shizen."

* * *

 **I apologize for the delay in updates, again. It's just that I've finally caught up to my writing and it's taking a bit longer to edit and go through stuff. Please review and let me know how it goes. Thank you!**


	15. Chapter 15

So sorry for the extremely long delay. I had a major writer's block and just finally, sorta broke though it. I've also been working on a short as well which took up a good chunk of my imagination.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything Yu Yu Hakusho or DARKER than black. Just my OCs.

* * *

"They sent you to get me? Oh the irony. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you do know me best after all."

Rin said nothing in response.

"What, nothing to say? Even after all these years you're saying you don't miss me?"

Still nothing,

"No hand shake or warm hugs?"

Silence,

"Not even a high five?"

She didn't even blink.

"A kiss perhap-"

"Enough with the talk," Hiei barked rather loudly. "You're coming with me."

Rin spun around and looked at Hiei with a confused glare.

"Says who?" Rin turned back around to Shizen only to find him stare, dare she think, _endearingly_ at her. "Oh Rin, I expected better of you. Siding with low life demons, how could you?"

She could hear Hiei growl behind her. Before Shizen could say anymore to irk the already angry demon she spoke up. "I've come to take you back to the Syndicate. I ask that you please comply, it'll make it easier for the both of us."

"You're _asking_ him?" Rin snapped her head to the side and shot Hiei a dark look.

"Let me handle this," she spat.

"No, I've watched enough of your foolery. I'm taking matters into my own hands." He rested his hand on the hilt of his katana.

"My, what a hot head," Shizen teased.

Hiei grit his teeth. The sole of his foot dug into the earth as he made to lunge for Shizen. However, predicting the outcome of the situation quite accurately, Shizen was able to side step right as Hiei launched. He managed to avoid contact easily.

Rin watched as Hiei disappear for a second before reappearing in the same spot Shizen had just occupied. Hiei unsheathed his katana and swiped across the area where his neck had been, but Shizen had already disappeared. Rin looked at the hole in the ground where he had just stood. She walked over and peeked into the hole but found nothing.

"Over here." Rin and Hiei snapped their heads in the direction of the voice and saw Shizen standing a few feet away. "Surely you must be better than this. I saw that coming from a mile."

Hiei wasted no time in going after him. Rin had to watch from her peripherals as the scene unfolded because things were going way too fast. Right as Hiei vanished from sight Rin saw sheen of white appear from her right. She heard it before she even saw it; Hiei's katana had collided into the barrier, his sword managed to dig into it but with one scrunch of his eyebrows Shizen threw him back with a gust of strong winds. Hiei landed on his feet and stood straight to observe the man. He had surrounded himself in a sphere of wind; visible, smoky wisps circling him in a protective barrier.

 _Earth, air..._

Hiei lunged again towards Shizen; he reeled back his right fist and slammed it against the barrier. He managed to break through and got his entire forearm inside but stopped. Shizen held up a palm against the demon's fist. Rin squinted to see what had happened- there was no way Shizen could stop a punch like with just his hand. It made sense when she saw a swirl of air in between the two. Shizen had use the force of his powers to stop Hiei in his attack. In what looked like an imitation of the one inch punch, Shizen thrust his arm slightly forward and sent Hiei skidding back on his feet, the hole in the barrier he had caused earlier closed up.

Shizen let a smirk slip from the side of his mouth. He raised a hand in the air and in doing so all the wind that was surrounding him began to gather at the palm facing towards the sky. Rin watched as the winds started condensing into a small sphere till it was just the size of a baseball... "How about we play some catch," in his suddenly dark and menacing tone.

Rin's eyes widen in recognition, but before she could scream out a warning to her demon companion Shizen threw the sphere. Knowing she couldn't dodge in time Rin threw up her arms to defend herself from the explosive ball of air, but the impact she was expecting didn't come quite as forcefully. Instead, a gush of wind blew at her hair and into her face. Squinting her eyes she could make out the familiar form of Shin in front of her.

Shin caught the sphere in the palm of his hands and forcefully snuffed it out. The force that was carried in the sphere was so great that it expelled wisps of air, rustling the trees branches until they swayed in the wind, "Shin?" Rin asked from behind her raised arms. "How did you..."

Shin peered at the woman from over his shoulder. "The explosion was seen from the apartment. I thought that maybe this was your guys' doing."

"Not ours, his." Rin gestured Shizen who she found was looking at Shin with a rather menacing glare. Shin turned his head back around to the rogue contractor. He balled his hands into fists, two spheres of wind encompassing both.

"Yoh?" he asked.

"Occupied," Rin removed her gloves and tucked them into her pant pocket. "Follow my lead."

Rin charged at Shizen with a fist packed with electricity, but before reaching an inch of his face he grabbed it with his left hand. Shizen squeezed tight and the sparks dispersed into mere flicks of light. Shin had snuck up from the side and aimed a straight jab for the kidney, but Shizen had dispelled the sphere of wind that surrounded the fist making the punch less devastating, but it still held enough impact to probably bruise later on. Shin gave a confused look when he saw his sphere disappear, Rin, however, maintained her focus. She wasn't the least bit surprised at what happened. Rin stepped to the side and turned around so that she was facing in the same direction as Shizen while standing to his left. The force he maintained on her fist caused his arm to twist in an uncomfortable fashion, but before he could let go Rin snatched onto his wrist with her free and pulled him across her body. Freeing her right hand from his grasp Rin placed it on the back of his neck and slammed him into the ground.

Shizen twisted his head to look up at Rin, wincing at the slight pain from her still having his arm up and bent backwards so as to keep him from trying to get up. "Still rough as ever." he murmured into the dirt.

Rin didn't say anything as she continued to glare at the man on the ground. "Shin," she called.

"Got it," Shin ran over and knelt next to Shizen's feet grasping both ankles in his hands. When he removed them two wispy cuffs remained in their place. Shin brought Shizen's ankles together and the cuffs merged to one, forming a ring made of tightly condensed air that kept his feet tied together. When Shin finished Rin stepped a leg over the rogue contractors body and knelt on one knee to reach down for his other arm bringing it up to the other she already held in her hand. Rin proceeded to cuff him just as Shin had. She slammed his wrists together and a shock of electricity cracked between them. She used the force of electrical power and pushed it further up his arms sending waves enough to stiff his limbs. When she let go blue sparks remained dancing on his wrists in circles cuffing his arms behind his back.

Shizen wriggled his arms in a feeble attempt to free his self but grunted when he found that he could barely move. He let out an airy chuckle, "Quite the position we're in. Kind of reminds me when-" Shizen didn't get to finish the sentence because Rin had shoved his face into the ground. His body shook from underneath her in what she could make out as laughter. She made to get up, but just as she tried to stand the ground started to shake. Rin knelt back down, still straddling Shizen, with one hand placed on his back for balance. She looked up to her companions, the demon with his stance slightly widened to remain afoot, and to Shin who had also knelt down to a knee, with a questioning look. The voice underneath her rang louder with muffled laughter.

"Is that you?" she asked, gripping onto his shirt. Shizen didn't stop his laughter, the ground shook harder.

"Oh, Rin. Dear, sweet, Rin! As much as I have enjoyed our reunion, personal matters call."

Rin's eyes widen when a crack in the ground near Shizen's head appeared. It stretched vertically down his body till just beyond his feet. With another violent shake of the earth the ground split. Shizen's body fell from underneath her as a small gasp left her lips from the sudden drop, but before she could follow Shizen into the dark abyss her right hand was snatched. Rin looked up to find Shin, the look on his face wordlessly asking her what happened. She turned her head back down to where the rogue contractor had disappeared. He escaped her and this wasn't the first time.

Some dirt and a few pebbles fell atop her head grabbing her attention back to the surface. She looked up once again and saw Hiei looking down his nose at her. It was a look she had come accustomed to coming from him, despite the short length of time they have been in each other's presence.

"Pathetic," was all he voiced, watching her as Shin began to pull her up. Rin kept her head down even as Shin started to help her over the ledge. She needed to hide the fact that Hiei's comment had made a small part in her chest twinge. And _that_ , beyond anything that had occurred today, was what confused her most.

"You told me you could handle him." Hiei accused. Rin was slipping her gloves back on.

"And handle him I did."

"You let him get away." He gritted. How could she be so calm?

"That is a mistake I won't make next time."

"There isn't going to be a next time."

This stopped Rin. She turned her attention back to Hiei and waited for him to continue.

"Do not misunderstand. I only let you interfere because you claimed to be the only one capable of dealing with him. I stepped aside to observe your claim as well as your fighting abilities. Your comrades may talk highly of you, but from what I witnessed you're no stronger than any other human in this damned world." Hiei paused to see if she was planning on a retort, but continued when her face failed to make any sort of reaction.

"Next time he is found I'm taking matters into my own hands and I will kill you if you get in my way." Hiei turned to leave. The two contractors were left to watch him go. "I've wasted enough time here."

* * *

"Hey! Over here!" Just as Shin and Rin were emerging from the forest Yusuke had spotted them. He and Yoh ran over to meet them.

"How did you two get across the river?" Rin asked.

"It took us... a while but we crossed at the next bridge over." They must have been running the whole time. Yoh panted for breath as he spoke. "What... happened?"

"He got away," was her simple reply.

"Where's Hiei?" Yusuke asked from behind Yoh. Unlike him, Yusuke looked like he didn't even break a sweat.

"He also left right before you two made it here."

"Yoh stood up straight and looked at Rin, his gaze unwavering. Rin knew that look all too well. It was time for business.

"I want a full report."Yoh spoke in a demanding tone, the voice of an obvious leader. Clearly, this was a position he was familiar with.

Rin fixed her posture and imitated Yoh's stiff stance, Shin followed suit. "Upon approaching the bridge I faced difficulties with crossing the river. The next bridge wasn't for another few miles so I opted to swim across, that was when I encountered the fire demon, Hiei. He took me across and we used his ability to sense Shizen's aura to track him down. Just in this forest was where we found him. Hiei made first contact but failed to capture when Shizen countered. That was when Shin arrived and diffused the attack. The two of us picked up where the demon had left off and we managed to apprehend him for a moment before..." Rin paused in her report.

"Before..."

"Before he escaped."

"How exactly?"

"From right underneath us," Rin averted her gaze out of embarrassment.

"Show me."

Rin turned around and led the group back into the forest to the spot where everything had happened. When they arrived, however, the hole where Shizen had fallen through was gone. Rin ruffled her eyebrows as she walked over to the freshly dug up soil. "He must have covered it up." Yoh said, observing the spot on the ground. He turned to look at Yusuke, "I don't suppose you could pick up on the residual aura?"

"I can, but it's leading me straight though the ground. Unless we got an earth demon with us I don't think we could go after him."

Rin took a hand and slid it down her face in exasperation. "Then we're screwed."

"Not exactly."

"We don't have an earth demon at our disposal." Shin finally spoke up.

"True, but we've got the next best thing." Everyone looked at Yoh with bewildered (Yusuke) otherwise stoic (everyone else) glances.

* * *

"Taka, is it?" A man with short brown hair paused in his reading. He peered over the top of papers he had in his hand and lowered them when he saw who was asking.

Yoh snatched a glance at what he was reading. "Writing a report I see, and about the explosion no doubt."

"Can I help you?" The man apparently named Taka asked; resting his hand on top of the report he was working on.

"I'm in need of your assistance, off records."

Taka lifted an eyebrow. Yoh sat down from across the table. "Let me give you the details."

Outside, Rin, Yusuke, and Shin were left waiting, all peeking through the glass window. "What do you think he's saying?" Yusuke asked, hovering over the two contractors.

"How am I supposed to know? I don't read lips." Yusuke gave an unamused look at the woman next to him.

"Whatever it is, he doesn't look too pleased." Shin pointed out. Rin and Yusuke looked at the two men again and found that the brown haired man was sporting a rather suspicious look... Well, at least Rin noticed.

"What? What are you talking about? I don't see anything." Yusuke pushed past the two and planted his face on the glass with both hands sprawled against the surface on each side to get a better look. "How can you even tell? You guys all have the same look!"

Rin rolled her eyes. "Are you sure you use to work for the Reikai demi god?"

"Hey!" Yusuke removed himself from the glass to teasingly glare at Rin. "I did a pretty fine job with saving the world ya hear? You'd all probably be dead if it weren't for me." Yusuke stuck a thumb against his chest while giving a proud and boastful 'hmph'.

Rin brought a gloved hand to her face and shook her head.

"Hey, it looks like it's getting serious." Shin forced their attention back to the window, all three huddling around the glass once more.

"I know you're aware of my reputation in the Syndicate. I have no qualms what so ever putting in a good word for you. I can get you out of the stationary position and add a few perks if you'd like. All I ask is that you do me the courtesy of this one favor, off record of course."

Taka sat in silence thinking over the proposition he was offered. The man in front of him was right, everyone knew of Yoh. The sole contractor that has proven thus far to be the only one with his type of ability, and because of that, he was, and still is, held in high regards and much favored by the Syndicate. Yoh had 'friends' in higher places that could get him anything and anywhere.

"I will compensate for whatever your contract requires. I even have a healer on hand if need be."

Taka gave one more look at his report before staring back at Yoh and gave a reluctant sigh. "I want to be promoted to active duty and my monthly stipend increased. My body has also been feeling stressed as of late due to the rigorous training schedule they have me on. I want a one week leave and my next dual annual visit shortened by a week as well."

"Training? You're a recent recruit?"

The contractor gave a sigh and crossed his arms, "Trainer, not trainee."

"I see." Was all Yoh said before offering his right hand, "You have a deal, though it might take a while for all of that to get set up."

Ignoring the friendly hand in front of him Taka stood up and took his papers with him, tearing them into shreds and tossing them into the wastebasket. "Doesn't matter as long as it gets done."

The group outside saw Taka headed their way and fell back from the window in attempt to look casual, and not as if they were just trying spy on them. Taka exited the shop and looked at each one of them with his eyes finally resting on Rin. Yoh came out just as she made eye contact.

"I see everyone is here. This is Taka and he will be assisting us temporarily."

"How," Yusuke asked.

"You'll see."

The group arrived back at the location where the outbreak with Shizen had happened. "Please tell me you can still sense his energy."

Yusuke stepped past Yoh and stopped to dig his heel into the dirt. He looked at Rin for confirmation, "This where he disappeared?" She nodded to him wordlessly. "Then yeah, he left behind a pretty strong trail, probably because you guys were going at it earlier."

"I need you to follow his directions and take us underground." Yoh saw a twitch in Taka's left eye.

"How far underground are we talking?"

Yoh looked back at Yusuke for an answer but he only shrugged his shoulders. "Can't say exactly. We'll know once we get there I guess."

"Whatever the price may be, I will help you pay it."

Taka grunted and pushed past Yoh to stand next to Yusuke. "Everyone gather around." The rest of the team followed suit. "The closer we are together the less energy I have to exert so snuggle up." Yoh stood right behind Rin close enough that their bodies touched. Shin stood to her right with their shoulders overlapping. Rin closed the gap between her and Yusuke the top of her head just barely reaching his chin. Yusuke squeaked at the contact and blushed a furious shade of red when he noticed two distinct and pleasantly curved mounds rest against the area right under chest. The shock on his face soon disappeared and was replaced with a rather perverted grin.

"Wipe that smirk off your face." Yusuke's face immediately fell from its former look of mild pleasure and turned into a scowl and raised his hands in defense.

"Hey, you can't blame me for the position you put me in. I'm not complaining though."

"Everyone ready?" Taka asked from behind Yusuke.

"We're ready."

"Alright, try not to move so much." Taka crouched down on one knee and placed a palm on the ground. The earth erupted once more in a mild shake; a crack split the ground and trailed a circle around the group. The earth shook a little more violently as the area within the circle dropped suddenly a few inches before steadily continuing to descend. Everyone besides Taka looked up and around in slight wonder as they watched the circle of light above them slowly shrink until it closed up leaving them in complete darkness.

"Go this way until I tell you to stop." Yusuke pointed to his right and Taka took them in the direction. They moved within the earth like as if on a platform elevator. Shin has long ago started to conceal the entire group in a gigantic sphere of air, allowing everyone to breath underground, "Stop." The platform came to an abrupt halt and everyone shifted slightly to keep their balance. "It looks like it goes up from here."

"Excellent work, Yusuke. Taka, before you start sending us up I want you to stop right before we break through."

"Right."

"Rin," Yoh put a hand on her shoulder. "I want you to scout the area first." She nodded her head and turned back around huddling a little closer to Yusuke for warmth. It was a bit chilly underground and she was wishing she still had her cloak. She felt him stiff once again from the contact.

"Would you stop?" Yusuke said trying to step back from her.

"Stop what? It's cold down here and it would be better for us to huddle close together for warmth."

"Yeah, but now you're just huddling for way more than just warmth!"

"Just bear with it a few more seconds!"

"We're getting close to the surface. I suggest you guys quiet down if you're trying to come in unnoticed."

Yusuke grunted in reply and settled down. He felt Rin press up closer against his chest. The platform shook slightly once again and came to a stop. "We're about two feet below the surface. Want me to go any higher?"

"No, here is fine. Yusuke," Yusuke snapped back from his perverted fantasies and looked at Yoh. "Can you tell me if you sense and spiritual energies above us?"

Yusuke faced the dirt ceiling with furrowed eyebrows, "Hmm, nope nothing here."

"Excellent. Taka, make a hole big enough for Rin to get through and Shin help me lift her up."

"Close your eyes." Taka shifted the earth above them a hole appeared, above them the surface.

Both Shin and Yoh squatted in front of Rin with both of their hands intertwined palms facing up. Rin carefully placed a foot on Shin's hands and her hand on his shoulder while lifting her other foot onto Yoh's. The men hoisted her up until she was able to the reach the edge and pulled herself up. Before she could leave their sight completely Rin turned around and peered down the hole at the rest of the group, Yoh's face in the center of the tunnel. "Make it quick in case others are around." Rin nodded silently and left, her long, dark locks fluttering behind her before disappearing from view completely.

Rin stood up and glanced at her surroundings. All around her she was surrounded by an enormous field of tall grass. With the coming of fall much of them have turned to their golden color, a sea of gold wavering in the afternoon sun. Far off into the distance she could see hills covered in specs of green and gold, but all around her there wasn't much of anything else.

She exhaled a breath at the complete beauty of the scene surrounding her. The warm touch of the sun's rays expelled any of the cold she had been feeling earlier, the soft breeze and the gentle sway of her hair, the tips of the grass tickling the small part of exposed skin on her forearms. Not a living thing in sight.

"Rin?"

Rin came back from her admiration and went back to the hole in the ground. She bent over and saw Yoh's face, illuminated by the small amount of light that was allowed through the dark tunnel. "There's no one here, not for miles." Yoh squinted his eyes in a bit of confusion and skepticism. Rin lowered a hand as far as she could, "Come see for yourself."

Yoh, who was over a head taller than Rin, was able to reach and grasp her hand by just standing on the tip of his toes. Rin held tight and gave a strong tug. Shin quickly came up from behind and gave Yoh a boost under his feet. As Yoh's head then his torso began to break surface Rin let go of his hand so he could pull his feet up. He stood and dusted his pants before eyeballing the scene first in front of him then around him.

"Any idea where we might be?"

Yoh took a second to breathe in, the fresh air calming his nerves as questions began to arise one after another without stopping. He took another moment to clear all the thoughts that were racing through his mind before answering,

"No."

"Uhh, guys?"

The two contractors turned around to Yusuke who was standing right next to the hole, Shin behind him helping Taka to his feet. "I don't think we're in the Nigenkai anymore."


End file.
